I Have a Cunning Plan...

[bjarvis]

I received in today's mail a notice of the 2007 annual meeting of shareholders of my dear employer. I only own 167 shares via our employee share distribution program of several years ago, but that's enough: I get to vote as a shareholder.

I've had similar opportunities in the past via my small portfolio but I could only cast my votes via the Internet because shareholders meeting was geographically inconvenient: New York City or the west coast. In the case of my dear employer, however, the meeting is being held at the Hilton Washington, 1919 Connecticut Ave NW, here in Washington, DC --the hotel known to locals as the "Hinckley" Hilton because of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.

I just may take the morning of Friday, December 14, off work... I have no illusions about the weight of my shares in the grand scheme of the corporation and the issues on which we're voting are pretty mundane, but it would be an interesting educational experience.

Comments

[apparentparadox]

Hey, I've seen Solid Gold Cadillac!

[urbear]

Even if you only own one share you're entitled to participate in the meeting, ask questions, be a general pain in the ass, and so forth. My old boss, the CEO (and majority shareholder) of the company that ran the Compucenter and MicroAge chains of electronics and computer stored in Canada, used this to his advantage; he'd have his employees buy at least one share if they didn't own any stock already, then have them perform scripted roles at each shareholder's meeting. The really juicy parts went to his relatives... I usually just got to second motions. If all went well we'd move things along briskly enough to forestall any real dissent or awkward questions from real shareholders, and it usually worked.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I've read of such shareholders meetings; at this particular one, I'm most interested in seeing how the institutional investors --by far the largest elephants in the room-- behave, and how many little guys like me bother to show up.

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Do I get extra points for recognizing the origin of the title?

[excessor.livejournal.com]

Baldrick?

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Bingo!