Shareholder activism has been a significant phenomenon amongst the largest U.S. public companies, with activists of a variety of stripes waging campaigns on a wide range of issues. As such activism has continued to grow, it has spread to companies based in Silicon Valley. In addition, state corporate law, the requirements of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or stock exchanges, corporate governance practices and tax laws also lead companies to place a variety of proposals before stockholders for approval. In recent years, investors and activist shareholders alike have focused their attention on public companies’ efforts to address larger environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

As a companion supplement to Fenwick’s Corporate Governance Practices and Trends: A Comparison of Large Public Companies and Silicon Valley Companies1 survey, this report summarizes significant developments related to stockholder voting at annual meetings in the 2021 proxy season among the technology and life sciences companies included in the Fenwick – Bloomberg Law Silicon Valley 150 List2 (SV 150).