You know the old joke about a lawyer believing that the plural of anecdote is data? I plead guilty. With that out of the way, you will recall that I have been a skeptic that shareholder activism is (a) a good thing and (b) likely to matter. (See, e.g., Shareh older Activism and Institutional Investors.) Via Dealbreaker, here's another anecdote in support of the latter claim:
Home Depot shareholders ... rejected proposals to more closely regulate executive pay and split the CEO and chairman positions. The directors up for election, however, were approved by a landslide. From the Wall Street Journal:
Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Blake said directors were each elected with at least 67% of the votes cast by shareholders, based on preliminary vote totals. Nine shareholder proposals were defeated, with the one getting the most support -- an effort to require the board seek shareholder approval of extraordinary retirement benefits for executives in the future -- garnering 44% of votes cast.
Despite affirming the doom and gloom scenario for this year (the low end of a projected 4%-9% decline in earnings with flat sales), Home Depot insists that its fortunes will change any minute now (minus any more unseasonably cold Aprils). In fact, 5% sales growth and 10% earnings growth is just around the corner, according to management (waiting for the ink to dry on those retirement packages that don't have to be approved).
