TheCorporateCounsel.net

Interestingly, Exxon Mobil has a new web page that facilitates the ability of shareholders to e-mail questions in advance of its May 30th annual meeting. There is a May 15th cut-off for shareholders to send their questions in. I don’t believe this is a first (IBM and BHP Billiton have done it before).

I’m not sure if many companies would be willing to encourage more questions, although it may be a way to get more diverse questions – or at least more questions related to the business of the company. But since Exxon Mobil doesn’t promise to answer all questions submitted, it doesn’t seem like there is too much potential for harm (from the corporate secretary’s and senior management’s perspective) and this type of web page provides another avenue to get potentially valuable shareholder feedback.

By the way, there is no mention in Exxon Mobil’s proxy statement that shareholders can e-mail the board because this particular function was only added to the website after the proxy statement was mailed. However, the following paragraph can be found on page 9 under “Shareholder Communications”:

“Electronic Communications: You may also send e-mail to individual non-employee directors or the non-employee directors as a group by using the form provided for that purpose on our Web site at exxonmobil.com/directors. These communications are sent directly to the specified director’s electronic mailbox. E-mail can be viewed by staff of the Office of the Secretary, but can only be deleted by the director to whom it is addressed. More information about our procedures for handling communications to non-employee directors is posted on the Corporate Governance section of our Web site.”

AFL-CIO’s Key Votes Survey

Last week, the AFL-CIO posted its 2007 AFL-CIO Key Votes Survey. This is a preliminary scorecard of how the AFL-CIO believes that shareholders should vote at selected shareholder meetings.

Paul Hodgson on the “Pay for Failure”

In this CompensationStandards.com podcast, Paul Hodgson, The Corporate Library’s Senior Research Associate, discusses his recent report on “Pay for Failure II — The Compensation Committees Responsible,” including:

– This is the second time you’ve produced this study. What made you revisit it and were you surprised to see some of the same companies reappear?
– Did you find any new problems within compensation structure and policy with the new companies or was it the same old issues?
– What do you think can be done to solve some of these problems?