Online Shareholder Meetings: The Good, the Bad, and the Hybrid

I read Dominic Jones' article More U.S. companies choosing virtual annual meetings for this week. The article goes on to discuss how some companies are moving to virtual or hybrid shareholder meetings. He talks mostly about how companies now have the ability to conduct their voting process online. Before this most companies that held online meetings had to have votes either mailed, phoned, or faxed in before the meeting started.

Now by allowing for shareholders to vote and pose questions online it makes to point that that the Notice & Access laws have some validity and if done the right way can be useful. Notice & Access allows for companies to send shareholders a slip of paper that has a URL address printed on it. The URL allows shareholders access to the company's shareholder materials rather than receiving a packet from the company. This saves the companies money and time in sending out their materials.

By having these online meetings it gives many shareholders the ability to attend and vote at these meetings without having to fly all over the country. This is particularly beneficial for shareholders who own shares of several companies. It saves everyone, the company and shareholder, time and money.

Jones also notes that "Most of the companies moving to [virtual meetings] are doing so because they don’t see value in having a shareowner meeting at all if only a few people show up." The hope is that more shareholders will attend the meetings if they are held online. However, for those who do disagree, companies like Intel are holding a hybrid meeting which means they will be holding both types of meetings. The hope is that this will allow for more shareholders to attend the meeting and vote, but it will also hold board members more accountable by forcing them to physically attend the meeting.

Personally, it seems as though the hybrid meeting seems to be the best move for all. It provides for the most people to attend while still upholding the integrity and accountability or the board and upper management. It won't allow anyone to hide behind a camera or the internet. It'll be interesting to see where companies take this in the upcoming years.