What do you do when you back a shareholder proposal to break up Mark Zuckerberg’s role as CEO and chair that gets voted down by said CEO and chair? In the case of New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who supported the unsuccessful proposal and has been steadfastly critical of the company for its data breaches and Zuckerberg’s far reach, you handle it like any New Yorker would: by slamming on Facebook’s hood and yelling, “Hey I’m walkin’ here!” Figuratively speaking, of course NY does not heart Zuck? DiNapoli has written a letter to Zuckerberg as a trustee of the New York State Retirement Fund, which holds more than $1 billion in Facebook shares. He’s calling for Facebook to replace Zuckerberg as board chair, or says he will vote against the nominations of all its members. The company has not responded to him. Why is Facebook being so neutral emoji face about It? Because it can. Facebook, like Google and many other tech companies, uses dual-class stock, which means founders and executives have more voting power than equity. Zuckerberg has 51% of the vote and has veto power over the entire company, though he owns only 13% of the company's value. In short: DiNapoli shares Wall Street’s growing unease (including the unease of the FTC and many lawmakers) with the company. Earlier this month, the S&P; Dow Jones Indices said it was dropping Facebook from an index that tracks socially responsible companies for its lack of transparency around data collection. --Elizabeth Thompson Photo: REUTERS / LEAH MILLIS - stock.adobe.com Read More...
What do you do when you back a shareholder proposal to break up Mark Zuckerberg’s role as CEO and chair that gets voted down by said CEO and chair? In the case of New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who supported the unsuccessful proposal and has been steadfastly critical of the company for its data breaches and Zuckerberg’s far reach, you handle it like any New Yorker would: by slamming on Facebook’s hood and yelling, “Hey I’m walkin’ here!” Figuratively speaking, of course NY does not heart Zuck? DiNapoli has written a letter to Zuckerberg as a trustee of the New York State Retirement Fund, which holds more than $1 billion in Facebook shares. He’s calling for Facebook to replace Zuckerberg as board chair, or says he will vote against the nominations of all its members. The company has not responded to him. Why is Facebook being so neutral emoji face about It? Because it can. Facebook, like Google and many other tech companies, uses dual-class stock, which means founders and executives have more voting power than equity. Zuckerberg has 51% of the vote and has veto power over the entire company, though he owns only 13% of the company’s value. In short: DiNapoli shares Wall Street’s growing unease (including the unease of the FTC and many lawmakers) with the company. Earlier this month, the S&P; Dow Jones Indices said it was dropping Facebook from an index that tracks socially responsible companies for its lack of transparency around data collection. –Elizabeth Thompson Photo: REUTERS / LEAH MILLIS – stock.adobe.com
What do you do when you back a shareholder proposal to break up Mark Zuckerberg’s role as CEO and chair that gets voted down by said CEO and chair? In the case of New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who supported the unsuccessful proposal and has been steadfastly critical of the company for its data breaches and Zuckerberg’s far reach, you handle it like any New Yorker would: by slamming on Facebook’s hood and yelling, “Hey I’m walkin’ here!” Figuratively speaking, of course NY does not heart Zuck? DiNapoli has written a letter to Zuckerberg as a trustee of the New York State Retirement Fund, which holds more than $1 billion in Facebook shares. He’s calling for Facebook to replace Zuckerberg as board chair, or says he will vote against the nominations of all its members. The company has not responded to him. Why is Facebook being so neutral emoji face about It? Because it can. Facebook, like Google and many other tech companies, uses dual-class stock, which means founders and executives have more voting power than equity. Zuckerberg has 51% of the vote and has veto power over the entire company, though he owns only 13% of the company’s value. In short: DiNapoli shares Wall Street’s growing unease (including the unease of the FTC and many lawmakers) with the company. Earlier this month, the S&P Dow Jones Indices said it was dropping Facebook from an index that tracks socially responsible companies for its lack of transparency around data collection. –Elizabeth Thompson Photo: REUTERS / LEAH MILLIS – stock.adobe.com
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