Hard-hitting moral votes at Microsoft
Microsoft’s eagerly awaited AGM is approaching on December 13th and there are some poignant proposals for shareholders to consider.
Discrimination questions rear their heads, as shareholders ask the tech giant to report on its processes for hiring people with criminal offences. In another proposal rooted in equality, shareholders show scepticism over the value of Microsoft’s Diversity & Inclusion programme (D&I), and ask for a cost vs. benefits analysis to be publicly shared.
Microsoft’s technology was questioned for its use as weaponry; one proposal asks for the company to assess the human-rights risks of governments using its technology. It specifically mentions concerns about warfare and surveillance becoming “gamified”. The other proposal asks for Microsoft to assess the reputational risks of being associated with developing military-training weapons.
The shareholder battle, however, will be in the ballots.
A Zucker punch for shareholder power
The share price of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is currently the lowest it’s been since 2016, and many feel that CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse gamble is the reason why. Coupled with that fact that Meta let go of 11,000 people this week, its shareholders might be asking themselves how they can assume some board-level control.
While the billionaire can freely fire as many people as he chooses to keep the business afloat, shareholders wouldn’t be able to give him the same treatment. Why? Because he owns over 50% of the company’s votable shares, meaning his time as Meta’s leader isn’t over until he says it is.
Known as “management entrenchment”, this scenario has come to pass because Zuckerberg owns a hefty amount of class B shares which are worth 10 votes each, as opposed to the 1 to 1 ratio of class A shares.
So… a ’trench vote?
Spaceship hits the fan
Richard Branson, the British billionaire behind the Virgin brands, is facing a lawsuit from shareholders of his spaceship programme, Virgin Galactic, reports The Daily Mail. Shareholders claim Branson hid problems within the programme, and sent “faulty rockets to space”. They also say Branson sold hundreds of millions of dollars of stock at inflated prices — which are now trading more than 90% below their Feb 2021 peak.
Branson’s company went public in October 2019, but court documents claim: “Virgin Galactic was less valuable than it appeared because its flights were not as safe as publicly represented.”
The lawsuit follows reports that in 2019, Virgin’s commercial spaceflight Unity had a test flight in which it suffered severe damage. Branson also claimed in a 2021 statement that, having just completed his own flight on Unity (reaching 50 miles above Earth), it had been “flawless” despite the spacecraft straying from assigned airspace.
Looks like Branson’s in a bit of a pickle.
New Liverpool shareholders? It’s all kickin’ off.
The owners of Liverpool Football Club say they’re open to new shareholders. The Athletic reported that Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which bought The Reds in 2010, is “inviting offers”.
In a statement, FSG said: “[We] frequently receive expressions of interest from third parties seeking to become shareholders in Liverpool… under the right terms and conditions we would consider new shareholders if it was in the best interests of Liverpool as a club.”
Liverpool supporters’ union, Spirit of Shankly, hopes that fans will be consulted on any such decisions: “Spirit of Shankly have written to LFC for clarification … We do, however, expect both the Supporters Board and SOS to be engaged in some part of the process so that supporters are front and centre of any sale and the first thoughts of prospective owners.”
Hear that LFC? Re shareholders, you’ll never talk alone.
