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Intel to hold virtual
get-togethers for shareholders
Apr 9,
2009
Broadridge touts new platform amid frenetic
proxy season
On May 20, Intel’s annual meeting will have a virtual component. The chip
maker will be the first to use Broadridge’s new Investor Network service to
hold a virtual shareholder meeting (VSM). Ahead of the meeting, Intel is
also using the platform to conduct a closed-door ‘shareholder forum’.
Unlike webcasts, which are available to the public, the VSM ‘has the ability
to be specific to your shareholders,’ says Chuck Callan, Broadridge’s senior
vice president of regulatory affairs. Control numbers validate shareholders
of record so only they can attend, present questions and vote online during
the meeting. ‘You know that you’re getting questions from your shareholders
and not from the public overall,’ explains Callan. ‘You have the ability to
vote in real time right at the meeting.’
Gary Lutin, chairman of the Shareholder Forum, an advocacy group unrelated
to Broadridge whose members include institutional investors and corporates,
believes it’s important to modernize the annual meeting process and
considers Intel’s initiative to be a strong step forward. ‘It's been a long
time since anyone drove his buggy up to a shareholders’ meeting to get the
information he needed for voting decisions and then cast his ballot,’ he
says.
‘You're not going to see any technologies here that you haven't seen before
in the quarterly earnings calls or other widely used conferencing
processes,' he continues. 'What's new about it is that that these
communications technologies are being applied to the antiquated rituals of a
shareholder meeting. Done right, this will certainly provide both investors
and corporate managers with a much more efficient process for the required
information exchange and decision-making.’
Cost savings could also be a boon. Broadridge says its e-delivery services
eliminated 54 percent of hard copy mailings last year, saving issuers nearly
$1 bn.
Intel sees benefits coming from a better dialogue with shareholders. Amy
Kircos, a spokesperson from Intel, says VSM ‘gives shareholders another
communications path to Intel.’
By Janine Armin
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