Microsoft Stands Firm on Shareholder Proposals Amid SEC Rule Change

Microsoft has agreed to consider shareholder proposals at its annual meetings through next year after an activist asked it to preserve investor rights amid pressure from a proposed US Securities and Exchange Commission rule change.

The agreement, reached with conservative activist Paul Chesser, will see Microsoft maintain existing thresholds for investors to submit resolutions for a vote. This comes as the SEC considers changes that critics say would sideline individual investors, religious groups, unions, and others who have had a say through the shareholder proposal process for decades.

Chesser hopes Microsoft's approach will become a corporate-governance model, ensuring mom-and-pop investors a voice in company decisions. He said: 'Microsoft put in writing that the smallest long-term owners of the company will still have a way to be heard next year, no matter what the SEC does.'

The agreement only lasts for one year, but it could offset efforts by the regulatory agency to shift power away from investors to corporate executives. Chesser's group has similar resolutions pending with Procter & Gamble and Oracle.