What do you do when you want to push management?

[beerbaron]

Did it ever happened to you guys that wanted to do management of a company you own stock in to do something (increase dividends, change accounting, compensation, etc...)? What steps did you guys take to make your voice heard? Was it successful?

 

BeerBaron

[arbitragr]

You can't do anything unless you have a large enough stake in the company to vote for changes at the AGM.

[benhacker]

I write management / IR an email and make a concise and clear case for why i think they should consider or do XYZ.  You may not have any influence, or you may and you just won't ever know.

 

If small investors never raise their voice and just assume no one will listen, they will be right.

 

I wrote ORH management after the first offer from Fairfax explaining to them why I wouldn't accept any offer below $64/share.  They probably didn't take my small opinion into account, but if I didn't send it, then I know they wouldn't have.

 

Vote your proxies and act like an owner, otherwise you may get what you expect.  But keep your expectations set properly.

 

Ben

[twacowfca]

Good advice,but take it one step more if you have a signficant holding of a stock,  Ask IR for a brief appt. to talk with the CEO, just to get to know him better--no hostile agenda.  If it's a good Co with a good CEO, you will probably be pleasantly surprised to get to see him unless it's a mega cap.  Being a relatively small stockholder may even be an advantage, less threatening to a CEO  who may be subject to criticism. :)

[valuecfa]

My first week as a research assistant for a buy side firm (many years ago) my boss asked me to get a feel for a company that was in the electric motor business, way before "green" had anything to do with the environment. He said after researching the company to call the CEO and ask him any questions I might have, and then present my case to him. It was a great first week to learn that as a kid I could call the CEO of a decent size company and chat with him for 20 minutes about anything I wanted.

 

So, my recommendation is just to pick up the phone and give the CEO or CFO, or corporate finance dept, or whomever, a call and voice your concerns. I think you would be surprised at some of the frank responses you will get.

 

One other tip I learned when i got my next job at an associate at a smaller less reputable buy side firm, was that you could be anybody on the phone. To get a good bit of a CEO's time at a larger company, you can be anybody on the other line, if you think it will help to get him to call you back, which can be annoying. While this may be frowned upon, it is done quite frequently by the smaller shops looking to get information from larger companies, where the phone calls only tend to be returned from the CEO if he "has the time". I've even had a colleague pretend he worked for the WSJ just to get a phone call returned from Bob Nardelli, back when he was at the Depot.

[beerbaron]

Thanks all, I'm sure all managements don't behave like that map business Warren bough in the 50s.

 

BeerBaron