Shareholder meetings only a bit ugly

We've been wondering if we were going to see some real fireworks at annual shareholder meetings this year. So far, we haven't been disappointed. Bank of America shareholders stripped Ken Lewis of his chairman title, amid a real circus. At Citigroup, shareholders--many of the Mom and Pop variety--weren't shy about criticizing CEO Vikram Pandit and various directors, present and former. At the GE meeting, picketers, many of whom were elderly, showed up to protest the dividend cuts.

The reality, as we all know, is that these demonstrations of anger and disgust rarely have an effect on the board. Shareholders almost never prevail in their resolutions. Even in highly publicized situations, what you often end up with is a massive media opportunity for angry owners but little else. The fact is that most shareholders, the ones that count anyway (institutions) are still of a mind to proxy their votes to management. The Bank of America news was really surprising in this sense. But we'll have to reserve judgment on whether shareholders are finally gaining the upper hand in the post- Sarbanes-Oxley era. 

For more:
- here's the article on the current proxy season

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