Shareholders that attend the company’s annual meeting generally expect the board of directors to do the same, especially since it’s the only annual opportunity for shareholders to voice concerns and hear a reply directly from the CEO and board. However, a recent Reuters article indicates that “small investors who want to give a piece of their minds to big tech company directors are losing their only chance: many board members are skipping annual shareholder meetings.” NorthStar’s Chief Investment Officer Christine Jantz discussed the issue with Reuters regarding the Facebook annual meeting this year. Christine noted in the article that “if [board members are] not hearing it, they can’t address it and they can’t respond.” Given that only half of Facebook’s board members attended the annual meeting this year, which was rife with shareholder outrage from the recent data privacy scandals, shareholders may wonder whether board members are listening. And given Facebook’s voting structure that essentially disallows significant shareholder input, NorthStar’s work on bringing the voting structure issue to light has never been more important.

Read the entire article here: “Waiting for Peter Thiel: big tech directors miss shareholder meetings.”