The following guest post originally appeared as a 2019 supplement to The Shareholder Service Optimizer. See Publishers Note at the bottom of this post for more details on how it was changed and how it is relevant to both issuers and employee shareholders. (more…)
Reincorporate Apple with a deeper purpose. That’s what we’re asking for in shareholder proposal #5. We suggest some possibilities. Apple could seek to benefit employees and customers, society, and/or the environment. The Board would propose those deeper purposes and shareholders would then vote on them… if our shareholder proposal passes. (click below if you would rather […]
Corporate Accountability Fall 2021: Restoring the Balance. This is your chance to discuss the issues with Nell Minow, Michae O’Leary, Andy Behar, Josh Zinner, Doug Chia, Bruce F. Freed, Heidi Welsh, Jon Lukomnik, Tim Smith, Christina Sautter, Rick Alexander, Karen E. Woody, Sanford Lewis. Spring will include Leo Strine Jr, Brandon Rees, Jackie Cook, David […]
Accountable may be an exception. Not many books on capitalism and corporate governance have the potential to spread like a meme. O’Leary and Valdamanis have a rare talent for using memorable terms like the Two-Buffett Paradox, Fiduciary Absolutism, and Milgram-Nixon Syndrome. Buy it on Amazon and I might get a few cents for the referral. I […]
Academy of Management 2021, #AOM2021. I was a discussant at a symposium entitled, Synergizing Corporate Activism Research: Building a Shared Understanding of an Evolving Phenomenon (session 913) This post is mostly for my future reference but readers may also find parts interesting. I welcome contact from those attending #AOM2021 who are interested in collaborating with investors. […]
Edwards Lifescience 2021 annual meeting is May 4, 10 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit www.proxydocs.com/EW. They do not make it easy. I had to put in my control number, which was not in the TDAmeritrade library where I vote proxies. I had to find the control number […]
Citigroup Inc. (Citi, NYSE: C), a diversified financial services holding company, provides various financial products and services for consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. Citi is one of the stocks in my portfolio. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three fund families when I checked and voted. Their annual meeting is coming up on April 25, 2017. I voted AGAINST […]
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. IBM is one of the stocks in my portfolio. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two fund families when I checked and voted. Their annual meeting is coming up on April 25, 2017. I voted FOR Proxy Access, Special Meeting amendments and report on lobbying. See how and […]
The Walt Disney Company $DIS will hold their annual meeting tomorrow (3/12/2014). Today is the last day to vote unless you attend the meeting. My voting recommendations are at The Walt Disney Company (DIS): Proxy Score 79. Since that post a few additional funds have voted and there has been further debate: (more…)
Apple Inc. (NASD:AAPL) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 2/28/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org was down for maintenance when I checked and voted on 2/19/2014, so no voting advice there. I checked a few other sources such as CalPERS, Florida SBA and OTPP but none had disclosed their votes on their sites as of yesterday. I voted […]
Stewart Information Services has become the 13th U.S. company to fail to win majority support during a “say on pay” vote this year… Investors also withheld majority approval from a compensation committee member, W. Arthur Porter, and withheld more than 44 percent support from four other directors… While the small-cap company has lagged its industry […]
Shareholders of Australian public companies have been having their say on pay by law since 2005. The Australian Parliament is currently considering amendments to its say on pay rules that are aimed at increasing the impact on companies of significant shareholder votes against. The ‘two-strikes’ test is a key proposed change included in the Corporations […]
Sparton will hold its annual meeting in Schaumberg IL on October 27, 2010. Proposals to be voted on include two that further improve Sparton’s corporate governance to best practices as follows: Proposal #3 includes the adoption of a Majority Voting standard for election of directors, and Proposal #4 includes the de-classifying (de-staggering) of Sparton’s board […]
As can be seen from the list of stocks I own, I don’t have any direct investments in Coca Cola (KO). However, I do have indirect holdings through my pension at CalPERS and through several mutual funds and a strong longstanding concern about the safety of Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical used in the epoxy lining […]
I found no advance voting recommendations or advocates regarding Berkshire Hathaway from either ProxyDemocracy.org or MoxyVote.com. No items were on the proxy other than election of directors. There seems to be a slight glitch on MoxyVote.com, since it only appeared to allow voting in favor of all director candidates or withholding. That wan’t a problem […]
First I checked MoxyVote.com and noticed the voting deadline is 4/19/2010, so I stopped procrastinating. I didn’t see any voting advice there, so I looked at ProxyDemocracy.org. Two funds listed there didn’t vote. The funds that did vote, voted for all items, including my resolution to reduce supermajority voting requirements. I’ll do the same, including […]
ProxyDemocracy.org was very helpful, with several funds reporting their votes in advance. Also very helpful was CalPERS’ site, which provided reasons for their votes. I voted for most of the directors, along with most of the funds who reported voting in advance on ProxyDemocracy. However, I joined with CalPERS in withholding my vote from the […]
We Own You!: How technology can help stockholders take control of the corporations they own, Slate.com, 1/12/10. Eliot Spitzer writes, “Twitter, text messages, YouTube, and other technology transformed politics in 2008. This success raises a compelling question: Can the same technology awaken the more dormant world of corporate democracy?… Could proxy voting in 2011 generate the […]