Good morning.
I felt wistful seeing an Omaha arena packed with shareholders this year for the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting. It wasn’t just the absence of Charlie Munger, who died last year at 99 , but the fact that Warren Buffett’s Woodstock for capitalists is one of the last parties designed for investors. Kudos to Elon Musk for letting Tesla shareholders gather in person, too. Shouldn’t owning part of a company be fun now and then?
This proxy season, Walmart , Boeing , JPMorgan Chase , Apple and many other public companies hosted virtual-only annual meetings. That eliminates the risk of some modern-day Evelyn Y. Davis or Wilma Soss showing up in costume to press CEOs on pay, like some kooky-but-wise aunt talking about poverty while you’re trying to eat pie at Thanksgiving. Now, she’s only welcome to call in for dinner and will be muted if she gets out of line.
Like a virtual town hall for employees, virtual shareholder meetings and other tactics can lead to less shareholder engagement or influence. The general meeting and shareholder vote—practices designed to reinforce corporate governance and give investors a voice in the companies they own—may end up losing their power.