Memo to Corporate Directors: Three Lessons from the Exxon-Mobil Activist Victory
Exxon-Mobil spent $35 million, added new directors, and made promises to do better, all in an effort to defeat the dissident slate nominated by activist fund Engine No. 1. It failed, and, at this writing, Exxon-Mobil has lost at least two seats on the board of directors and votes for two others were still being calculated. The challengers, who spent $30 million, making this the most expensive proxy fight ever, are really the little Engine that could; with only a tiny .002 percent of the stock, they…
