It received only one proposal this year and the SEC agreed it should be discarded because “it tried to micromanage the company”
[NEW YORK] ExxonMobil is facing no shareholder proposals this proxy season for the first time in at least 25 years.
The absence of requests follows a year after the oil company sued two climate-focused investors to remove what it described as their “extreme agenda.” It also comes as the US Securities and Exchange Commission released guidelines making it easier for corporations to block votes on shareholder resolutions at their annual meetings.
Exxon said in a statement late Monday that it received only one proposal this year and the SEC agreed it should be discarded because “it tried to micromanage the company.” In 2024, investors voted on four resolutions, including one that linked Exxon’s executive pay to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and another related to plastics production.
The suit filed last year by Exxon against shareholders, including Arjuna Capital, sought to prevent their climate-focused proposals from being voted on at its annual meeting. The company argued that allowing investors to repeatedly file similar requests undermines the shareholder-voting process. The suit against Arjuna was dismissed after the firm withdrew its proposal and voted not to file similar ones.
The legal action has had a chilling effect on investors looking to raise concerns about environmental and social topics, said Rob Du Boff, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“Exxon wanted to change the legal process around shareholder proposals, and now no one is in a rush to file them,” he said. “Exxon will take every effort to fight them.”
The company said this year marks “the first time in recent history that our proxy includes zero proposals from activists.” BLOOMBERG
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