Duke Energy Avoiding Town Hall Meetings Too: 2017 Annual Meeting Will Be Online
The shareholder meeting marks one of the most important dates on a company’s annual calendar of events. It’s a day highlighted by corporate updates, board member elections, and shareholder resolutions. The meetings often give shareholders a chance to get up close and personal with management and directly ask them questions.
Duke Energy, one of the largest utility companies in the country, has decided it would rather keep its distance from its shareholders. On Thursday, Duke’s 2017 annual shareholder meeting will be conducted as a virtual event for the first time in the company’s history.
Duke, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, serves about 7.4 million electric customers and 1.5 million gas customers and owns about 52,700 megawatts of electricity-generating capacity. The company insists its decision to switch to an online-only format, after decades of in-person meetings, will lead to greater participation by a larger number of investors. However, corporate governance experts believe virtual meetings are being adopted by corporate boards that fear both adverse publicity and any attempt by shareholders to hold them accountable.
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Steve Norris, an Asheville, North Carolina-area resident who owns a single share in the company, has protested at previous Duke annual meetings over coal ash and climate change issues. He said he has no doubt Duke decided to go virtual out of fear of renewed protests at its annual meeting.
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https://thinkprogress.org/duke-energy-abandons-in-person-shareholder-meeting-d9837db3969b