Market Trends 2020/21: Shareholder Proposals


Summary

This practice note discusses recent market trends related to shareholder proposals, a popular and effective mechanism enabling shareholders to recommend or require that a company and/or its board of directors take a specified action. Currently, to be eligible to submit a proposal for consideration at a meeting of the company's shareholders and to have such proposal included in the company's proxy statement and proxy card under federal law, a shareholder must have held company shares with a market value of at least $2,000 (or at least 1% of the company's securities entitled to vote on the proposal at the shareholder meeting) for at least one year, and comply with additional substantive and procedural rules set forth in Rule 14a8 (17 C.F.R. § 240.14a-8) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act).