Proxy Change Attempts

Attempts have been underway for changes in the way proxy votes are permitted and counted.

Street name votes must now have consent of the share beneficiaries. There are now nonbinding shareholder votes on compensation-related issues. Governance changes and board of directors compensation committee changes were also enacted under Dodd-Frank.

Like other restrictions on business, they serve little purpose, other than a play to a voter block that feels the corporation’s primary care is not its product or service, jobs and profits that enable it to operate, but to seek secondary social goals, almost simultaneously.

This fine-tooth-comb meddling is actually unfair to most shareholders because many activist minority shareholders are not interested in genuine company matters. Their primary goals are societal concerns that ought to be rectified by federal, state and local government, not private corporations. And for union organizing.

For years, they have clamored for changes in corporate activity which the vast majority of shareholders would not want. Today, corporations are being nudged by government to actually submit much of the proposals into their proxies. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)