Shareholders Feel Muted as Companies Switch to Virtual Annual Meetings
By: Wall Street Journal
August 23, 2020
Companies are finding virtual shareholder meetings to be cheaper and less time-consuming, but shareholders complain they don’t get as much time to ask their questions.
A majority of the companies in the S&P 500 this year have decided to move their shareholder meeting—usually an in-person event—online due to coronavirus-related restrictions on large gatherings. Faced with the option to postpone the meeting until later, 87% of businesses opted for a virtual event compared with 23% of meetings held remotely in 2019, according to data provider MyLogIQ.
Executives and investors usually like that they can dial into these meetings from their homes. But despite the ease of access, shareholders say remote events offer less scope for participation as many companies ask for questions in advance, respond only to a select number of them and don’t disclose how many queries were received.
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