Samsung Electronics to Live Stream Shareholders' Meeting for '99% Individual Shareholders'... "Pre-registration by Next Month 7"

Major Companies Adopt Electronic Voting - Trend of Online Streaming for General Meetings Expands

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Samsung Electronics, which ushered in the era of 2 million small shareholders last year, will for the first time live stream its shareholders' meeting online this year. This measure aims to increase interest and encourage participation from the rapidly growing number of individual investors amid the stock investment boom known as the 'Donghak Ant Movement.'

Samsung Electronics announced on the 16th that it will hold the 52nd regular shareholders' meeting at the Suwon Convention Center in Gyeonggi Province on the 17th of next month, introducing the online broadcast and participation methods.

First, information on pre-registration for the online broadcast will be posted on Samsung Electronics' website in early next month. Shareholders can apply to participate in the online broadcast through a specially prepared site and pre-register questions for each agenda item. The application period is from 9 a.m. on March 7 to 5 p.m. on March 16.

This is the first time Samsung Electronics has disclosed matters related to the shareholders' meeting, including the online broadcast. This decision aims to increase the participation and convenience of the rapidly growing number of small shareholders. According to the Korea Securities Depository, the number of Samsung Electronics shareholders reached a record high of 2,154,081 as of the end of last year. Among them, individual small shareholders accounted for 2,145,317, representing 99.59% of the total. The number of shareholders nearly quadrupled from 568,000 in 2019 within a year.

Shareholders who pre-register can watch the entire shareholders' meeting live and ask questions. However, under current law, it is not possible to vote online on agenda items while watching the online broadcast on the day of the meeting. Therefore, shareholders must exercise their voting rights in advance through electronic voting or apply for proxy voting. Samsung Electronics introduced the electronic voting system last year to allow shareholders to exercise their voting rights without attending the meeting.

At this Samsung Electronics shareholders' meeting, approval will be sought for the payment of a settlement dividend amounting to 13.1 trillion KRW, based on a special dividend of 1,578 KRW per share. Additionally, the reappointment of inside directors whose terms expire in March, including Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam of the Device Solutions (DS) division, President Kim Hyun-suk of the Consumer Electronics (CE) division, and President Ko Dong-jin of the IT & Mobile (IM) division, will be proposed.

Due to the spread of COVID-19, major companies are increasingly adopting electronic voting or live streaming shareholders' meetings online. Hyundai Motor Group, SK Hynix, SK Innovation, and POSCO are considering hybrid online and offline shareholders' meetings, while LG Group plans to introduce electronic voting across all 13 of its listed companies starting this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.