"Piercing Questions to CEOs Online"... Changing Trends in Business Community's General Meetings

[Asia Economy Reporter Su-yeon Woo] As shareholder communication through online channels such as electronic voting systems and live online streaming strengthens, the landscape of shareholder meetings in the domestic business community is also changing. With the establishment of channels to gather opinions from minority shareholders and the increased need for non-face-to-face communication due to COVID-19, online general meetings of shareholders (GMS) are emerging as a new trend in the business world.

On the 17th, Samsung Electronics held its first online general meeting of shareholders. Although it introduced the electronic voting system last year, this is the first time it has simultaneously held an on- and offline GMS by live streaming the meeting online in real time. The number of minority shareholders at Samsung Electronics surged to 2.15 million last year, making it increasingly difficult to accommodate shareholders in limited physical space, and the online GMS became a new alternative.

To comply with COVID-19 prevention guidelines, Samsung Electronics prepared a total of 1,200 seats, with 1,000 seats on the first floor and 200 seats on the third floor, implementing 'distanced seating' at 2-meter intervals. Although only about 200 shareholders could enter the main hall on the third floor, the entire GMS process was live-streamed online so that all shareholders could watch.

At the Samsung Electronics shareholders' meeting held on the 17th, Kim Ki-nam, CEO of the DS Division, is responding to questions about the business status. Photo by Samsung Electronics

At the meeting, sharp questions collected in advance online as well as questions from shareholders on-site poured in. Shareholders asked sensitive questions online to CEOs of each division, such as, "How do you view the fact that the technology gap with competitors has almost disappeared, with Micron catching up in semiconductor technology?" and "Samsung Galaxy seems to lack an advantage in marketing to younger generations compared to Company A; what is your comparative advantage strategy?"

In response, the CEOs of each division answered, sweating under the shareholders’ pointed questions, stating, "In the case of DRAM, we have secured overwhelming technological competitiveness through EUV, and in NAND technology, we demonstrate global leadership not only in individual products but also in software design capabilities such as controllers."

The business community expects that exercising voting rights through electronic voting systems and minority shareholders’ participation in online GMS will become widespread across the industry. Although the participation rate in electronic voting is still low, it is expected to gradually become a trend, leading to more active exercise of voting rights by minority shareholders.

Not only Samsung Electronics but also POSCO held simultaneous on- and offline shareholder meetings on the 12th. Voting rights were exercised in non-face-to-face ways such as prior electronic voting, written voting, and proxy voting. Many companies, including SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor, and Kakao, are expected to hold simultaneous on- and offline shareholder meetings in their upcoming schedules.

The electronic voting system, which began to be actively introduced last year, is spreading. According to the Korea Securities Depository, a total of 376 listed companies used electronic voting and electronic proxies through the Depository’s electronic voting system during the third week of this month (March 14?20).

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