So, management of GPHBF is holding the AGM in Vancouver, on a different coast and in a different country from where it is located or incorporated. This makes it difficult for dissatisfied shareholders to attend and question management's decisions or meet to coalesce around alternate candidates for the board. Is this a common strategy by management to stifle dissenting voices? Is there a person or agency in Vancouver that is willing to attend if paid to do so? If so, what would a normal fee be for this service? I should think that if enough shareholders came together, it would be cheaper than the costs of airfare, hotels, etc. for attending the AGM in person.
One of my companies had a Hawaii based quarterly report, two years ago. It went off at 4am, est. I doubt it was a coincidence the company was struggling at a low, at that time. It took me a few days to calm down and consider not selling them. Management are obviously not adults. Eventually, I decided to hold. I haven't bought a share since then, and it will be the first company I will sell in retirement. They were my largest holding in 2018. Now they are number three. I've proxied my vote before. It was a different company. They, too, were doing something I really didn't like so I found someone on another forum who shared the same point of view and lived in the AGM city. Giving them my proxy vote worked out well. This person voted how I wanted, the vote went in management's favor, and I sold all of my stock a few days later. Lol. I don't think you will have to pay anyone. Just be vocal on several investing forums and see what you can troll up. Whatever the case, I hope it goes well for you.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful response. With 163.68 million shares outstanding, I would hope we could find someone willing to attend the AGM in Vancouver. There is quite a bit of discontent on the Yahoo! board with management, including one person who claimed to be the third largest shareholder in the company, but for some reason his posts keep getting deleted. If there is a small shareholder, or a university student in Vancouver who wants the experience of attending an AGM, he or she will be voting for millions of shares. The one problem that I am having is that some people don't understand that it isn't wise to give their proxy to the CEO they want removed. Instructing him to vote against the board that has been giving him stock warrants to water down the stock, doesn't quite solve the problem if he is given the authority to vote for another board of his cronies when the first fails.
So with 163.68 million shares outstanding, the only person I found in Vancouver who could attend, was unable to attend as she wasn't registered somehow. The company didn't respond to her emails requesting permission to attend. Opposition to management appears to have been limited to online voting through Broadridge.com. Most brokerages in the U.S. use Broadridge for voting at the AGMs. Shareholders were limited to either attending in person, or voting online. So, it wasn't possible to record a transfer to another person to serve as a proxy, nor was it possible to vote for alternate candidates for the board. Broadridge if you read this, you suck! I never received a response from them regarding the instruction I emailed in case the shareholders voted not to return the present board. There is no reason that shareholders voting online should have their rights limited like this, especially when companies are using Covid to make AGMs more difficult to attend. GPHBF didn't permit online access to the AGM despite the fact that Delaware, its state of incorporation permits it. I don't think they wanted to answer to their shareholders. I am still waiting for the results from the AGM to be made public. I don't know what happened yet. It's not posted anywhere that I can find.
Thank you for sharing this experience with us. It helps to shine some light into these dark corners. I am sorry things are going against your best interests. When companies do this sort of thing, I record it. There are still companies being run by people with integrity but they are not in the majority. As investors, we need to stick together and share information to keep the petty tyrants under control.
