Amazon shareholders reject proposal to separate CEO and chair roles

Amazon shareholders rejected a suggestion to undertake a coverage that will require the corporate’s CEO and board chair roles to stay separate.

Vote totals disclosed in a submitting Thursday display about 82% of shareholders rejected the proposal. The unbiased proposal used to be submitted along seven others at Amazon’s annual assembly on Wednesday. Each of the unbiased proposals have been rejected.

Amazon cut up the jobs of CEO and board chair when founder Jeff Bezos became the helm over to Andy Jassy in 2021. As a part of the transition, Bezos retained the name of government chairman.

The proposal sought to codify that construction inside Amazon “like the majority of S&P 500 companies,” advocacy crew the Accountability Board wrote in its submission. The crew argued that the cut up construction permits the board to concentrate on company governance and oversight, whilst the CEO specializes in the corporate’s industry.

“With the positions currently separated, now would be an opportune time to do so,” the proxy states.

Shareholder proposals in search of the separation of board chair and CEO roles had been on the upward push lately. The collection of such proposals greater 113% amongst Russell 3000 firms within the first part of 2023, the easiest degree previously decade, in line with the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.

Amazon steered shareholders to vote in opposition to the proposal, announcing the present coverage allows the board to resolve the appropriate management for the corporate “in light of our specific circumstances at any given time.”

The separation in 2021 got here “after careful consideration” of Amazon’s management construction and purposes, the corporate wrote in its advice.

“In light of our success through these various leadership structures, the board believes that shareholders are better served by the board retaining the ability to adapt to our evolving needs and implement the optimal leadership structure at any given time,” Amazon wrote within the submitting.

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