Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. ($BR) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 11/15/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I voted on 11/8/2012. I voted with management 50% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank will be […]
Tag Archives | United States Proxy Exchange (USPX)
USPX Suspends Central Activities
As many readers may know, a few months ago I joined the board of the United States Proxy Exchange (USPX). I’ve long been impressed with the work of USPX’s volunteer executive director, Glyn Holton. We worked closely on several sets of comments to the SEC, Model Shareowner Proposal for Proxy Access and subsequent no-action responses, Shareowner Guidelines for Say-on-Pay […]
FedEx (FDX): How I Voted – Proxy Score 69%
FedEx ($FDX) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 9/24/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of four funds when I voted on 9/18/2012. (A fifth fund is now reporting.) I voted with management 69% of the time. (more…)
Notable CorpGov Bites
Four articles worth reading are linked below. ProxyMonitor.org, a website sponsored by the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, sheds light on the influence of outside shareholder proposals on publicly traded corporations. Their slant is fairly obvious in their latest Proxy Monitor Report, Fall 2012, but the data is worth reviewing. (more…)
ISS Should Reconsider Their Analysis of H&R Block Proxy Access Proposal
The influential proxy analyst, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), recommends voting against Kenneth Steiner’s proxy access proposal at H&R Block (HRB) on 9/13 because it “could undermine the efforts of larger, long-term shareholders whose interests might better reflect those of the broader shareholder base.” Their logic appears flawed. Larger, longer-term shareowners would gain rights, not lose them, […]
Video Friday: Proxy Access
Glen Schleyer and The Deal Pipeline’s David Marcus discuss how shareholder proxy access is affecting the dynamic between large long-term shareholders and boards of directors. (more…)
In Celebration of MoxyVote.com
Viewing the venture as a tragedy because it is folding is like saying Neil Armstrong was a failure because he left the moon and came back to Earth. Just as the Blue Marble photograph of Earth helped us see our world in a new light, Moxy Vote helped us see corporations differently. This gang of explorers blazed a […]
Goliath Beats David; Shareowners Lose
I get frequent alerts for news on shareowner activism from various sources. I’ve seen this press release sent out by Susman Godfrey L.L.P. concerning their win against a small shareowner pop up so many times I can no longer ignore it. (more…)
Take Action: Tell SEC to Require Disclosure of CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios
Click here now to tell the SEC to require companies to disclose CEO-to-worker pay ratios. If you own stock, click here to get information on how to vote your shares on “say-on-pay” proxy proposals. (more…)
Princeton National Bancorp (PNBC): How I Voted – Proxy Score 12.5
Princeton National Bancorp ($PNBC) was one of the stocks in my portfolio. I sold it when they failed to file their proxy statement on time, since that looked to me like one more sign that PNBC is nearly a hopeless case. However, I can still vote the shares I held, since I sold well after the […]
Gilead Sciences (GILD): How I Voted – Proxy Score 44
Gilead Sciences (GILD) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/10/2012. Voting ends 5/9 on Moxy Vote’s proxy voting platform, which listed 8 “good causes,” but three were consolidations, when I checked and voted on 5/8. ProxyDemocracy.org had 4 funds voting.Gilead scores 44 out of 100, since I voted with management on […]
Dow Chemical (DOW): How I Voted – Proxy Score 44
Dow Chemical (DOW) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/10/2012. Voting ends 5/9 on Moxy Vote’s proxy voting platform, which listed four “good causes,” including two consolidations, when I checked and voted on 5/7. ProxyDemocracy.org had two funds voting. DOW scores 44 out of 100, since I voted with management on only 44% […]
Union Pacific (UNP): How I Voted – Proxy Score 13
Union Pacific (UNP) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/10/2012. Voting ends 5/9 on Moxy Vote’s proxy voting platform, which listed nine “good causes,” but three were consolidations, when I checked and voted on 5/7. ProxyDemocracy.org had 1 fund voting.UNP scores 13 out of 100, since I voted with management on only […]
Ford Motor Company (FDMTP or F): How I Voted – Proxy Score 67
Ford (FDMTP) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/10/2012. Voting ends 5/9 on Moxy Vote’s proxy voting platform, which listed three “good causes,” including two consolidations of only one vote, when I checked and voted on 5/7. ProxyDemocracy.org had two funds voting. Ford scores 67 out of 100, since I voted with […]
3M (MMM): How I Voted
3M (MMM) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/8/2012. Voting ends 5/7 on Moxy Vote’s proxy voting platform, which listed fourteen “good causes,” including three consolidations, when I checked and voted on 5/6. ProxyDemocracy.org had four funds voting. (more…)
Upcoming Shareowner Meetings
Powered by Jackie Cook’s Fund Votes, a handy list of upcoming meetings. Research voting guidelines and meeting dates (more…)
No Proxy Access Vote at Textron This Year
The SEC granted Textron (TXT) no-action relief on March 7, allowing them to drop Ken Steiner’s proxy access proposal based on their decision that paragraphs 1-5 and 7 of the USPX proxy access template deal with (more…)
Social Media & Democratic Corporate Governance
The revolution is being tweeted. Social media have enabled political uprisings in the Middle East, the global Occupy movement and even a swift blowback against banking fees in the United States. A logical (more…)
Proxy Access Win at KSW
Daniel Rudewicz, a USPX member, reports what I would term the first win under recently implemented SEC rules that once again allow proxy access proposal to be filed. As reported earlier, Rudewicz filed a proposal at KSW, a Long Island City, N.Y.-based company with a $19.7 million market capitalization that (more…)
"Large Number" of Proxy Access Bylaws Predicted: Battle Lines Drawn for American Dream & Ownership Society
According to a recent November 15 newsletter from Latham & Watkins LLP, most companies will adopt a “wait and see” approach for now. However… If and when a company receives a shareholder proposal recommending board adoption of a proxy access bylaw, the board may respond (and seek to exclude the proposal from the ballot) by […]
Proxy Access: Two Proposals Filed, More USPX Members Needed
The first USPX type proxy access proposal was submitted by Kenneth Steiner (with help from John Chevedden and other members of USPX), which went to MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (WFR) on 11/11/2011. Here’s the Whereas portion (the rest is the same as the standard USPX proposal). WHEREAS, Most long-term shareowners have no reasonable means to […]
Proxy Access for the 99% – Open for USPX Member Comment
The time has come for shareowners to be allowed to include their own nominees for corporate boards in the proxy materials their corporations send out every year—so-called “ballot” or “proxy access.” The current system—that only allows shareowners to vote for candidates nominated by the current board—is absurd. The SEC has finally reaffirmed shareowners’ right to […]