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Forum Report:
Electronic Participation in Shareholder
Meetings
Symantec Chairman’s Report of
Pioneering Experience
Shareholders of Symantec Corporation had asked the Forum to request
management responses to two issues concerning the
fair conduct of the company’s “virtual”
shareholder meeting: (1) the identification of attending directors and (2)
the reporting of questions presented by shareholders.
The chairman of the company’s board of directors has responded with a
letter that provides the information investors need to make their
judgments of fairness, and also a valuable review of practices to guide
other companies and service providers:
Anyone interested in effective communication practices is urged to read
this thoughtful and articulate report of a widely observed effort by a
technology leader to address what Mr. Thompson describes as “an
opportunity to increase participation and enable more stockholders to
interact.” This is his summary of the learning experience:
As we plan next year’s meeting, we believe enhancements can be implemented
to improve the experience for our stockholders. We will be working with
our vendors to develop more effective ways to maximize the experience.
Given last year’s experience, we have identified several areas where
improvements that can be made. These include, but are not limited to, the
registration process, introduction of the board and management teams,
presentation format, and to the question and answer procedure. We also
believe we can provide stockholders the ability to ask questions directly,
similar to what occurs during our quarterly earnings calls, by providing a
phone line option for participants to ask their questions verbally. We
recognize the importance of hearing from stockholders in their own words
and will implement a format that gives stockholders that opportunity. We
will evaluate the stockholder forum option as well. We have identified
other areas where we can improve the overall meeting experience and will
continue to work on these throughout the year.
We remain committed to open communications with our stockholders. We
understand the importance for stockholders to share their concerns,
realize that they’ve been heard and recognize that we are addressing their
issues. We look forward to continuing our interactions with our
stockholders.
It is in this context, too, that investors should consider Mr. Thompson’s
similarly thoughtful responses to the specific issues of identifying
attending directors and reporting shareholder questions. You can read in
his words what was done and why, and what was learned from it, and then
make your own judgment about the meeting’s essential fairness.
Whether you decide that the actual conduct of Symantec’s meeting was fair
to shareholders or not, the Company’s management deserves credit for
testing new ways to serve investors. They also deserve our gratitude for
showing us what does and doesn’t work. Most importantly, especially in our
focus on fair conduct, we must respect and encourage the kind of
leadership Symantec has demonstrated.
GL – October 28, 2010
Gary Lutin
Chairman, The Shareholder Forum
c/o Lutin & Company
575 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, New York 10022
Tel: 212-605-0335
Email:
gl@shareholderforum.com
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