(Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway Inc reversed on Friday and told an activist group it could remotely submit a shareholder proposal for the company’s May 1 annual meeting, in line with renewed guidance from the securities regulator from the USA.
Warren Buffett’s insurance and investment company has traditionally attracted thousands to its extravagant annual meeting in Omaha, but, like many top U.S. corporations during the coronavirus pandemic, has asked investors to connect to the meeting remotely, instead of participating personally.
Switching to online has prevented many groups of active investors whose shareholder resolutions often animate meetings. Some have been disabled by technology or told that they could submit resolutions only in person, despite health risks.
This was the case in Berkshire for As You Sow in Berkeley, California, which filed a measure requiring the company’s subsidiaries to report inclusion and diversity efforts and was told it would have to send a representative to Los Angeles where some executives and staff would gather for live internet broadcasting.
Asked about the situation on Friday, Berkshire Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg told Reuters via email:
“We would have preferred As You Sow to present their proposal at the Los Angeles shareholders’ meeting. However, We will provide As You Sow an opportunity to provide a recording that will be presented at the meeting as a means of presenting their shareholders’ proposal. ”
As Sow welcomed the decision. The organization “does not want to risk the health of others, so we are relieved that the company has changed course,” President Danielle Fugere told Reuters.
When Berkshire Hathaway contacted the group, it cited new instructions from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as Sow said.
While Semănați was among a group of activists and investors who, on April 5, called on the SEC to extend last year’s guidelines to allow the virtual presentation of proposals, which a number of companies appeared to be banning this year, at time for the shareholder in the spring of 2021 meeting season.
“From the point of view of pandemic security, it is not yet time to ask supporters to appear in person,” the letter said.
In a statement posted on its website on Friday, the SEC said that, in light of COVID’s concerns, corporations were encouraged to “provide shareholder supporters or their representatives with the ability to present their proposals through alternative means, such as telephone ”during the 2021 season.
The agency also said that supporters who could not attend the meetings will have good reasons to complete their proposals later.
Hamburg did not answer questions about how it would have treated other groups of shareholders.
Reporting by Ross Kerber; Edited by Sonya Hepinstall