While a welcome response to a life-threatening pandemic, virtual-only shareholder meetings are an unsatisfactory substitute for in-person
The traditional in-person corporate AGM, while potentially disorderly, cumbersome and hard to manage, provides an essential opportunity for shareholders to directly interact with the management and board of the corporations whose capital they provide. For most shareholders, the AGM is their only opportunity to meet and communicate directly with the people running the company.
So, what’s the problem with virtual meetings? Simply, the person that controls the technology controls the experience.
The fact that most investors rarely go to AGMs in person is immaterial to the importance of their right to do so. Investors only infrequently vote against nominated directors, but their ability to do so is fundamental to our system of corporate governance and the functioning of our capital markets. Both the right to vote for directors and the ability to directly communicate with directors and management at least once a year are crucial for shareholder democracy.