Proxy Solicitations, Activist Investors, And Corporate Decision-Making
The proxy solicitation is one of the central tools for democratic decision-making in a publicly-held corporation. All shareholders have access to the process if they can meet certain requirements. Consequently, activist investors may turn to proxy solicitations to make changes in companies.
At the same time, many sorts of relatively benign corporate decisions also go through the proxy solicitation process. Companies use it to nominate and elect board members, conduct acquisitions and mergers with shareholder approval, make changes to structures and governance, and approve many other year-to-year activities.