Back the the Future? Reclaiming Shareholder Democracy Through Virtual Annual Meetings

Virtual General Meeting: World Experience And Prospects In The Covid-19 Conditions

“…org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.04.02.194 Corresponding Author: M. A. Tokmakov Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN: 2357-1330 1621 to hold virtual meetings, although only 11% of S&P 500 companies had virtual or hybrid meetings in the past. Research by Nili and Shaner (2020) also found that physical meetings and virtual meetings held in the United States in 2020 had the same shareholder turnout and approval rate for meetings, indicating that virtual shareholders meetings were just as effective in ensuring shareholder voting, as well as physical meetings at this time. It seems that the pandemic could be a catalyst for corporations to move to virtual meetings around the world.…”

“…However, it should be noted that fully virtual meetings in the United States have not been widely adopted. For example, Nili and Shaner (2020) note that although the vast majority of states permit the use of virtual technology instead of in-person meeting, in-person meeting remains the norm. Most corporations use distance meetings only in addition to physical meetings, using a hybrid format.…”

“…During the pandemic, the SEC in its letter supported the holding of meetings in precisely such formats, indicating that corporations must promptly notify their shareholders of a virtual or hybrid meeting, including how shareholders can remotely access, participate and vote at such a meeting (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2020). Many states have redefined their views on remote participation in corporate meetings, and according to Nili and Shaner (2020), only 3 states (Idaho, South Carolina and South Dakota) still maintain meeting requirements in person.…”

Enhancing virtual governance: comparative lessons from COVID-19 company laws

“…50 In the United States, some form of virtual participation of shareholders in general meetings is permitted by state law in about 40 states. 51 In some states, conducting VSMs might be subject to authorisation by the articles of incorporation or by-laws, 52 the board of directors 53 or other conditions. 54 While some state laws allow for the holding of virtual-only as well as hybrid annual meetings 55 , others allow only hybrid annual meetings where shareholders may participate remotely in a physically-held annual general meeting.…”

Heads in the clouds: On the carbon footprint of conference‐seeded publications in the advancement of knowledge

“…where meetings are audio-only (Nili & Shaner, 2020), though recent evidence exists that fluent discussions can also be achieved through interactive hubs on social media such as Twitter (Abbott, 2020).…”