When Sun Microsystems recently said it would eliminate its poison pill and amend its bylaws to allow majority voting in director elections, Sun acknowledged its decision to scrap the pill “is responsive to the expressions of Sun’s stockholders” at its 2005 annual meeting—where 84 percent of voting shareholders approved a non-binding resolution to eliminate the pill.
In March, Wendy’s agreed to an initial public offering of its Tim Hortons doughnut chain amid pressure from hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management. And late last year, media giant Knight Ridder agreed to put the company up for sale in response to pressure from Private Capital Management.
