Shareholder proposal rule
On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released new guidance regarding shareholder proposals submitted pursuant to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities...more
For those who use “March Madness” to describe proxy season rather than basketball, they'll immediately know that the “economic relevance” exclusion under Rule 14a-8(i)(5) is something of a lore in the SEC's shareholder...more
The SEC rescinded Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L and issued updated guidance on the exclusion of shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8 and certain other aspects of Rule 14a-8....more
In our earlier blog post, we discussed Staff Legal Bulletin 14M (SLB 14M), which rescinded prior Staff Legal Bulletin 14L (SLB 14L). The staff of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated that SLB 14M is...more
In one of its first actions under the new Administration, the SEC staff issued new guidance that largely reinstated older guidance that had supported the ability of public companies to exclude shareholder proposals from their...more
In June 2023, then-Commissioner Mark Uyeda (currently, Acting Chair) spoke to the Society for Corporate Governance 2023 National Conference on the topic of shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8. Alluding to the frequent...more
Public companies navigating the 2025 proxy season just got some breathing room—at least when it comes to excluding certain shareholder proposals. Last week, the Staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance—in a...more
On February 12, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) Division of Corporation Finance staff (the staff) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14M (SLB 14M) to provide informal guidance on shareholder...more
On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14M (SLB 14M), rescinding Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L (Nov. 3, 2021)...more
Related to today’s webcast – “Hot Governance and Engagement Proxy Tips You Need to Know” – courtesy of Steve Pantina of Proxy Analytics, here are 2024 proxy season stats through the end of November...more
You might recall that, in 2023, the National Center for Public Policy Research submitted a shareholder proposal to The Kroger Co., which operates supermarkets, regarding the omission of consideration of “viewpoint” and...more
Public companies can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now, that the Securities and Exchange Commission's 14a-8 regulatory process for excluding shareholder proposals remains intact....more
Shareholder proposals submitted for 2024 annual meetings continued to cover a wide range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. And companies seeking to exclude shareholder proposals they deemed inappropriate...more
You may recall that, in January, ExxonMobil filed a lawsuit against Arjuna Capital, LLC and Follow This, the two proponents of a climate-related shareholder proposal submitted to Exxon, seeking a declaratory judgment that it...more
Corp Fin has announced a new intake system for requests from companies for no-action positions from the staff regarding companies’ intentions to exclude shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8. In the announcement, Corp Fin...more
On Wednesday, SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda spoke to the Society for Corporate Governance 2023 National Conference on the topic of shareholder proposals under rule 14a-8, a topic on which, historically, the commissioners’...more
You might recall that this past proxy season witnessed a significant number of shareholder proposals related to ESG—from both sides of the aisle. (See this PubCo post.) One of those proposals was submitted by the National...more
In recent years, there has been a steady increase in shareholder proposals that target a public company’s ESG commitments, including diversity and inclusion data, environmental or emission programs, and community engagement....more
The 2023 proxy season is just around the corner. This quick reference guide, which is intended to supplement Shearman & Sterling’s 20th Annual Corporate Governance & Executive Compensation Survey, summarizes themes from the...more
REGULATORY UPDATES - SEC Announces Leadership Changes - Anthony (“Tony”) C. Thompson was appointed to a second term as a board member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”), which will run until...more
On July 14, 2022, the SEC voted 3-2 to propose a rule adopting amendments to Rule 14a-8 (the Proposed Amendments), which requires companies subject to the federal proxy rules to include certain shareholder proposals in...more
Summary - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month proposed revisions to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), which require companies subject to the federal proxy...more
Our Securities Group discusses how the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed changes to Rule 14a-8 would restrict companies’ ability to rely on the rule to exclude shareholder proposals....more
This proxy season, companies saw more shareholder proposals than in the past, a change that has been widely attributed to actions by the SEC and its Division of Corporation Finance that had the effect of making exclusion of...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently revisited two proxy-related matters by (a) adopting amendments to the proxy rules governing proxy voting advice and (b) proposing amendments to the shareholder proposal rule in...more