The Securities and Exchange Commission dealt a serious blow this month to corporations trying to exclude from the proxy statement shareholder calls for majority election of directors.
On Jan. 5, the Commission denied a no-action request by Hewlett-Packard Co., which sought permission to omit from its proxy a shareholder proposal asking that majority election be required. HP tried to argue that it had already “substantially implemented” the shareholder proposal, because it had adopted a guideline that requires director to submit their resignation when more shareholders withhold their votes than vote in the director’s favor.
