Shareholder Activism: The Google Way
July 21st 2007 09:16
Shareholder activism has reached a new level in the Way of The Google. Using the web as a platform for minority shareholder activism is nothing new but as a new generation of investors takes over, Google is being increasingly used as the starting point for information research. And this could be scary for the board of directors and management.
Here is why:
Google's search result ranking works by seeing how many people link to that website, more links to my entry, the higher the rank.
So that when people search the name of the company's directors (which i included all of them) on google, hopefully the first result will be this piece.
And it is all about how they treat small shareholders poorly.
Next wednesday is the Special General Meeting for the shareholders (of Winfoong) to vote on the deal. Hopefully by then, the ranking will be high. Teach them a lesson to piss off HK shareholders. (Andrew Shuen)
Thanks to Roland Soong of ESWN who translated the Chinese blog piece written by Hong Kong Apple Daily's finance journalist, Andrew Shuen, who exposed the questionable practices of a listed company, Winfoong (063) at the expense of the minority shareholders. Mr. Shuen proposed using Google as a mitigating factor against the directors' shareholder value damaging deal.
Here is how:
A while ago, an Internet recruitment company CEO named Jason Goldberg denied the street rumors about employee layoffs. He even publicly criticized the "information leakers." Several days after criticizing those "information leakers," the company went ahead with massive employee layoffs. Suddenly, Internet posts condemning this "useless" CEO was all over the place. The CEO realized that he had made a mistake and did everything that he could to tide over the storm. But even today, if you were to Google the name "Jason Goldberg", the top results will contains stories about how he lied once upon a time.
(Translated by Roland Soong)
Full story here: A Small Shareholder Protest Against Winfoong
Minority shareholders, regardless of how small the holdings, are legally entitled by the law to expect the company officers to act in the best interests of the company and shareholders. Failure to do so would invite breach of fiduciary duties. The point is that many minority shareholders are taken for a ride by the board because there is incentive to do so in the face of the fact that minority shareholders are relatively toothless, unless the minority holdings are held by instituitions or managed funds. Not any more as more investors go cyber and Google.
In the name of democratisation of finance, everyone should be given an equal chance.
Here is why:
Google's search result ranking works by seeing how many people link to that website, more links to my entry, the higher the rank.
So that when people search the name of the company's directors (which i included all of them) on google, hopefully the first result will be this piece.
And it is all about how they treat small shareholders poorly.
Next wednesday is the Special General Meeting for the shareholders (of Winfoong) to vote on the deal. Hopefully by then, the ranking will be high. Teach them a lesson to piss off HK shareholders. (Andrew Shuen)
Thanks to Roland Soong of ESWN who translated the Chinese blog piece written by Hong Kong Apple Daily's finance journalist, Andrew Shuen, who exposed the questionable practices of a listed company, Winfoong (063) at the expense of the minority shareholders. Mr. Shuen proposed using Google as a mitigating factor against the directors' shareholder value damaging deal.
Here is how:
A while ago, an Internet recruitment company CEO named Jason Goldberg denied the street rumors about employee layoffs. He even publicly criticized the "information leakers." Several days after criticizing those "information leakers," the company went ahead with massive employee layoffs. Suddenly, Internet posts condemning this "useless" CEO was all over the place. The CEO realized that he had made a mistake and did everything that he could to tide over the storm. But even today, if you were to Google the name "Jason Goldberg", the top results will contains stories about how he lied once upon a time.
Full story here: A Small Shareholder Protest Against Winfoong
Minority shareholders, regardless of how small the holdings, are legally entitled by the law to expect the company officers to act in the best interests of the company and shareholders. Failure to do so would invite breach of fiduciary duties. The point is that many minority shareholders are taken for a ride by the board because there is incentive to do so in the face of the fact that minority shareholders are relatively toothless, unless the minority holdings are held by instituitions or managed funds. Not any more as more investors go cyber and Google.
In the name of democratisation of finance, everyone should be given an equal chance.
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Comment by Andrew Shuen
The proposed motion passed without a fuss and the minority shareholders got screwed royally.
Anyhow, with people doing due diligence on them over time. They shall pay for their act.
Andrew Shuen
Comment by Benjamin
Benkaiser.NET Investment Portal
It is great to know that there other avenues of accountability that could be used apart from the usual legal method.
But I guess since Winfoong had passed the reso, it is now a matter of time to prove the effectiveness of "Shareholder Activisim: The Google Way" in HK.
Ben