Is proxy access dead? It sure seems like it. Last week, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission gave permission to Halliburton, Verizon and Qwest Communications to omit shareholder resolutions that called for a process that would eventually allow certain shareholders to nominate directors.
This decision comes on the heels of the staff’s decision in December to allow Walt Disney Co. to keep a similar resolution out of its proxy just weeks after it had initially required the media giant to include the measure.
