Abbott Laboratories | Special Shareholder Meeting Improvement at Abbott Laboratories

Status
47.36% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
4
Resolution details
Company ticker
ABT
Lead filer
Individual
Resolution ask
Adopt or amend a policy
ESG theme
  • Governance
ESG sub-theme
  • Shareholder rights
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Health Care
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
John Chevedden, 2215 Nelson Avenue, No. 205, Redondo Beach, California 90278, has informed Abbott that he intends to present the following proposal at the Annual Meeting and that he owns no fewer than 50 Abbott common shares.. Shareholders ask our board to take the steps necessary to amend the appropriate company governing documents to give the owners of a combined 10% of our outstanding common stock the power to call a special shareholder meeting. This includes that each shareholder shall have an equal right per share to formally participate in the calling for a special shareholder meeting.
Supporting statement
Currently it takes a theoreticall 20% of all shares outstanding to call for a special shareholder meeting. This theoreticall 20% of all shares outstanding translates into 26% of the shares that vote at our annual meeting.

It would be hopeless to think that shares that do not have time to vote would have the time to go through the special procedural stops to call for a special shareholder meeting.

A more reasonable shareholder right to call for a special shareholder meeting to could be used to elect a new director. It could also be an incentive for our directors to take their jobs more seriously. The following directors received a substantial number of negative votes at our 2021 annual meeting:

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