hello everyone and thank you for
listening in again I am Kaylee Bateman
the content director at chican code and
today we’re going to be discussing
shareholder activism the working world
has seen an increased focus on
environmental social and governments or
ESG initiatives in recent years but what
happens when companies are resistant to
more ethical and sustainable practices
this is where shareholder activism comes
in today we’re going to delve into this
with someone who is an expert on the
topic it’s Jenna Armitage Chief
marketing officer at tulip share welcome
Jenna hi thanks for having me thank you
so much for for joining us today and
before we get started can I ask you to
share a little bit about your background
and yourself please yeah so I am born
um I have been in the financial services
actually over 13 years now uh which is
exciting never really thought I’d fall
into Financial Services wasn’t uh wasn’t
the career path that I had imagined but
I’m very happy to be here especially now
uh doing what we’re doing here at tulip
share uh prior to tulip share I was a
marketing director at Fidelity I was
freelance for a couple of years working
with uh many well-known private Equity
um and what got me into jail order
activism was a uh one of the clients I
was working with engine number one
um and their campaign against Exxon and
it was really at that moment that I
realized I was probably I was I was in
the right place at the right time for
sure and uh finally all of my you know
experience in the financial services
space was going to really start to align
with my uh passions of you know
um changing things for the better
um you know it feels a lot more like you
are able to not only just
um you know invest for financial returns
but invest actually drive the change
that the world needs and uh that’s super
exciting to me and I’m really happy to
yeah it’s interesting to say that you
fell into Financial Services we hear
um and and that you know you didn’t grow
up thinking I would love to go in that
um I was definitely looking for jobs
when Occupy Wall Street was happening
meaning uh the only paid jobs you could
get uh by chance were in financial
services most of you know the jobs in
fashion or uh things that are a bit more
creative which I had always seen myself
kind of gravitating towards
just weren’t available at the time and
um you know today I’m grateful because I
can see a lot of change and a lot of um
good I can do in in the space that I’m
in both to inspire more women to get
engaged and more women to get involved
uh in the financial services space and
uh you know day to day my role it’s it’s
very uh closely tied to impact so it’s
it’s quite nice to know that you know at
the end of the day the work that you’re
doing is is really seeking to drive
change at uh public companies with
um you know change the way that you and
um it’s it’s something that I think a
lot of us have heard of but probably
um in in depth could you explain what
exactly is shareholder activism yeah so
um it’s no surprise most people don’t
know what shareholder activism is and
the problem really stems back to that as
shareholders we don’t feel like owners
um you know when you buy shares in a
company you technically are the owner of
that company so whether that be apple
um Amazon Facebook or meta now you name
it you are a partial owner of that
company which means that that company
shareholder activism is the act of
investing your money into publicly
traded companies and using your shares
to influence the company’s corporate
governance however the problem is that
most people take a passive approach to
investing and that’s not necessarily
because they want to it’s just that
they’re not aware that you know or feel
like owners of these companies that they
actually own shares in so uh what we do
at tulip share is we enable individuals
to purchase stocks or you know so you
fractional share in Tesla because you
want Elon musk’s salary to be tied to uh
ESG instead of just his ability to hit
um so it’s quite powerful and really I’d
um particularly uh you know cop 27 going
on as we’re recording this it’s very
easy to feel powerless with everything
that’s going on around us I mean here in
the UK we didn’t elect our current prime
minister we have you know
um no say as to what governments are
going to do globally it just you know
often feels like you’re sitting back
without much to do and shareholder
activism is a world that enables
individuals to you know invest to you
know start to speak out to some of the
biggest companies in the world
I it sounds um I suppose to some people
it sounds quite daunting to think
um that you know you invest and that you
could well you know an absolutely
extreme level you know pressure
um a management team to make change but
I suppose it’s it’s not quite at that
level is it is it for for most of these
things it’s I suppose you think of
investors as you say like Elon Musk and
you think oh no you know that’s really
not for me but I take it you know on a
um example um of shareholder activism
actually it’s it’s not as Extreme as
that no that’s why you know retail
investors especially never got involved
in shareholder activism the shareholder
activism then I’d assume most people are
aware of are more of the stories that
you see in billions or secession you
know where you have these big hedge
funds these rich you know wealthy
individuals that are looking to pressure
companies so that they can you know they
identify these companies because they’re
um on some financials and you know the
investor sees an opportunity to uh you
know fix the operations on that company
um we’re identifying ethical issues that
are at the company which do pot I like
poised a risk to the financials as well
but not an immediate one so most
investors will ignore it but we’re
saying you know what you can’t really
ignore climate change anymore and you
um and soon governments are starting you
know governments are even getting
involved so it you know it’s very much
in the near term that you know you must
change and agree to hit these targets
otherwise we’re in big trouble here
um and that’s where I’d say tulip share
is much different that and both the fact
that you know you don’t have to invest a
lot of money you know you can invest 25
pounds and be a part of this movement
um you know what we do is we then
collectivize the shares of all of our
users so that we can put more pressure
um and that’s really where we’re able to
do so much can you give us
um any examples to shareholder activism
um at tulip share we recently had a
campaign where we had three campaigns
that we submitted proposals on uh one at
that was looking for them to stop the
global sales of tough based baby powder
which was known to cause cancer
has been the the sale of talk-based baby
powder had been discontinued in North
um lawsuits and litigation issues that
they had faced as a result of um its
ties to cancer however the company
continued to sell it globally
um we launched the campaign because
we’ve only been around for a year we
launched the campaign I’d say a couple
months prior to the and general meeting
the AGM for Johnson and Johnson and
um Johnson Johnson and Johnson has since
announced that they are discontinuing
the global sales of talk-based baby
powder at the end of the year so I’d say
that’s a big one and one that we’ve
shown you know the power that you can
have as an individual to back you know a
campaign like this through tulip share
um you know the next stage from there is
to also show kind of how these decisions
that the company is making are also you
know proving to show some growth for the
company as well financially because
ultimately when you invest you’re
um you know earn returns hit Financial
um reach different life goals that you
um you know we’re we’re working on kind
of bridging that narrative
um which is exciting but that’s I’d say
one good example that I have
and share with you yeah I mean perfect
because my next question actually is why
is shareholder activism important but
obviously from what you’ve just said it
brings about change you know from a
small scale right up to somebody as
large as uh Johnson and Johnson
governance is an important thing to have
uh but when companies are able to
operate you know and nobody’s
questioning their decisions it’s not
something to say you know you’re doing
something wrong it’s it’s really about
having a growth mindset right yeah you
know and making sure that you’re staying
true to you know your company Mission
Vision Values you know that you’re
staying relevant for you know your
customers and your investors are also
your customers as well as your owners
um you know you often like or I could
say I personally you know
um and I I can’t give any Financial
um uh and and wouldn’t want anybody to
take this as a as any Financial advice
but I personally choose to invest in in
companies and brands that I believe in
you know and so when you take that
approach you know I think governance can
really be used for good you know like
for instance Nike I’ve I I played Sports
um uh played uh soccer and University
and uh used Nike products all the time
with Nike I can’t stand kind of like the
issues that it has across its supply
chain uh with garment workers and you
know that’s where tulip share allows me
to say you know what I’m a fan of Nike
but I can’t stand the way it’s producing
um and you know I’m gonna work to
communicate that by investing on tulip
share and backing this campaign
um you know to try and make a difference
yeah I I agree there um entirely and you
mentioned um climate change a little bit
um could shareholder activism be the key
to tackling climate change and
um I mean it could be one of the keys
um because shareholder activism you know
pushes companies to report to
um report and act around these issues
um causing climate change or you know
consistently not meeting targets Etc and
these are all that’s an operational
problem right at the company this isn’t
um you know they’re they’re not
operation operationalizing or
um but shareholder activism yes can
definitely be one of the keys that you
know um that can help stop you know I I
personally believe can be one of the
um solve issues around climate change I
mean we also it does take
um you know collaboration with
government with people but you can’t I’m
I’m a big believer that you can’t blame
um yeah you know these companies are
marketing to Consumers and you know
um we need to be better and I think
shareholder activism can be a great tool
to that can be leveraged to help attack
uh to help in tackling the
um the issues around climate change for
um ESG shareholder activism is that on
the rise do you think 100 yeah we’ve
seen numbers of proposals going up year
um 100 and you know tulip shares the
first platform that allows individuals
to get involved in in shareholder
um both in voting and also submitting
our own proposals so we don’t just um
because there’s other voting platforms
um you know some investors depending on
what platform they’re investing on can
actually vote at the AGM and also
assuming that they meet specific
um the it’s hard to understand you know
as a as an investor what rights you have
where you know based off of where you
um so yeah I’d say you know shareholder
activism is definitely on the rise in
terms of you know both the amount of
parties that are getting involved and
it’s definitely been you know picking up
in the media quite a lot which means
that consumers are slowly becoming more
um which is all positive for sure
yeah you just mentioned there about um
people understanding or investors
understanding where to get their
information when where do they start
well I think at first understanding kind
of what platform are you using today to
invest and you know are you investing
individually in stocks are you
um you know are you buying them through
funds or ETFs uh you know which is a big
um speaking to your broker
um so that you can understand kind of
what is their policy on this
um and it’s worth the time it’s worth
the time and it’s worth the effort to to
understand because otherwise if you
forfeit your right to vote you know
um you’re you’re losing out on the
opportunity to make sure that your money
is being aligned with your values and
that’s definitely something that I’m
prioritizing uh for 2023 personally and
and something I’d I’d encourage others
to do as well I’m not sure if you’ve
heard of make my money matter but they
uh cool marketing campaigns around
uh your pension schemes because that’s a
big one because everybody here in the UK
um they have really big facts and
figures on you know how many people’s
pensions are funding deforestation
um you know and and other big things
that they don’t they did a really funny
uh media stunt around that
um showing a couple getting you know
uh huge tools and and stuff like that
that are used to chop down trees and
um you know paying attention to kind of
how your money is being funded uh is is
really important because it doesn’t
matter yeah because yeah it doesn’t
matter if you’re eating organic if
um following your own personal reused uh
refills policy you know in in your
um you know driving an electric car your
your pension scheme you know is accruing
and um and and kind of working against
you in that capacity so paying attention
to your money is super important yeah uh
something that um I think most people
probably haven’t even pulls off to that
um how effective is shareholder activism
in achieving results I mean you
mentioned a couple of examples already
obviously the Johnson and Johnson one
um was highly successful but um what
what about you know other examples
um other examples of success in children
it’s really a case-by-case scenario in
you know how successful is shareholder
um to date and there’s lots of you know
you hear like engine number ones
takeover of exxon’s board or not take
um uh you know they got three board
um which was which was great
um you know and and really kind of
ensured that they had people with the
uh credentials to be helping Exxon
uh Exxon transition to a more
climate-friendly uh policy and path
forward which is very important but uh
I’d say you know change takes time so
you know it’s it’s definitely I’d say
harder I mean there’s been studies on
some of the shareholder proposals that
were like I believe it was on Starbucks
and their racial Equity audit and
um you can follow kind of how like the
success on an individual level I think
the reporting as a whole like so looking
at you know these proposals have been
passed what’s happened with the company
um that level of communication I think
certainly needs to be enhanced by the
investor relations teams but it is
starting to get better because they’re
you know investor relations teams at
these companies are having to deal with
such a you know a huge influx of number
of proposals being uh being sent and in
the US they’ve they’ve now made it even
easier for investors to submit proposals
there was a most recently they removed
this duplicative proposal rule
which now means that there’s going to be
a lot of proposals that are being
presented to the the company and board
assuming everything gets passed and
um you know around you know maybe
tackling climate change but the only
thing different is the way in which that
they’re tackling climate change and so I
mean I think that’s such a positive
thing there right because
um you know it makes sure that the
conversation is coming up multiple times
and the board is listening so you know
you’re getting the intention of of the
board and the most senior people at that
company and you know that ought to a
flag that you know your investors really
do care about this and yeah you know you
should probably start to incorporate
this into your long-term business plans
because if not you’re going to lose
eventually and that’s not going to be a
good thing both for the company or your
yeah and what about the companies you
know what what should companies be doing
to mitigate the risk of share holder
um on esj I think you know being more
transparent open and honest is
you know invest in investor relations is
changing uh and the way that companies
need to start engaging with their
investors is is changing as a result I
mean invest like you know the way that
the way that we communicate with each
other is also changing people want more
information real time you know so that
experience just needs to get better in
um being a bit more interactive open
um honest even when numbers aren’t
looking right or you’re unsure I mean
ESG isn’t an easy thing to track or
measure too which is a huge problem
um I think being you know uh open about
um you know listen to your shareholders
and you know both big and small
um is really important and I hope and
we’re starting to see bits of
um bits of that you know new wave and
and kind of um participation on the
investor relations side with companies
come to fruition which is great because
um obviously it just creates like there
doesn’t need to be animosity it
shouldn’t be such a fight like you know
I think having more open and honest
conversations around these issues and
um and being comfortable being a bit
um you know even on the company side uh
is a good thing and positive and
um and will help us you know reach these
different targets together
um quick more quickly and
um and it will just be a positive thing
yeah and obviously um you know companies
being more transparent is is um is a
huge thing um to push forward but what
um do you know on an individual level
um if they wanted to push for Change and
they weren’t really sure at the moment
what to do is is there anything that
that they can do themselves
I would definitely I think the first
step is really just taking a look at
your Investments and understanding you
um where your Investments held held
um you know like I said everybody has a
pension I think that’s probably the
first place to start you know spend a
um every Sunday for the month of January
um just basically trying to just
understand kind of where your current
what what’s your Current financial setup
uh where is your money invested and have
a conversation if you have a financial
um you know and and start to just
evaluate kind of what are your values
what do you want your Investments to to
stand for and how do you want to kind of
restart uh your financial plans in a way
that aligns to your your values and
that’s something you can really work
with a financial advisor on for sure
um I would definitely speak if you are
investing directly on a brokerage
platform I would definitely speak to
them and understand what your rights are
for you know as a share owner or
shareholder um uh to see kind of you
know understand the process are you
allowed are you eligible to vote and and
really just speak to them
um ask questions and you can always go
if you have any questions
um our team at tulipshare is always
happy to to support around that so I
would definitely welcome them to go to
tulip share there’s a help bot on our on
our page and you can speak to our
customer success team that can also help
in pointing you to the right direction
um which might be helpful as well I
um are a lot of shareholders probably
weren’t aware that they could ask
questions as well yeah you can you have
rights as a shareholder and I think
that’s that’s one thing that’s very
um as an investor you you have rights
whenever you I mean even buy into uh you
um you know just in terms of what the
reporting that you received back and
um unfortunately you know the user
um maybe isn’t as you know as seamless
um you know I for one never found it
personally to be you know very easy the
amount of like email notifications I
would receive was just too much
um that it’s really easy to kind of
um I’d say just uh drought you know be
um to kind of what’s Happening behind
the behind the scenes so I’d say just
kind of you know really just setting up
some setting some time aside and and
um you know making sure that you’re
emailing and asking those questions and
following up on it is is huge
yeah and and what do you think
um the future will bring for shareholder
um I think the future is going to be a
lot more transparent I’m hoping that you
know increased number of shareholder
activism or shareholder proposals and
um what have you will increase the
amount of data these com each of these
companies are are tracking and measuring
um and sharing both with the public and
um you know to to a certain extent
um and you know that’s going to create
competition so if you have Coca-Cola you
know being pressured to have a refill
reuse policy and they adopt it well
Pepsi what are you doing about that you
know so I think that is going to create
massive change in industries that really
um some help and I mean these companies
the people running these companies are
they’re you know very very smart very
capable individuals and if you get them
um different goals and objectives you
know we’re going to start to see those
targets being met and that’s a really
yeah well uh we we have run out of time
I’m afraid um it goes incredibly fast
here and when we’re talking about a
really interesting topic so thank you um
so much for joining us I’m sure a lot of
um probably didn’t realize that you know
um when it comes to their Investments
and they probably uh the especially the
fault with their pension probably hadn’t
even crossed their minds so um thank you
very much for for joining us today
thank you and for everybody listening as
um thank you for joining us and we hope
to see you again next time
Shareholder activism and how we can use our money to push for change
ARTICLE SUMMARY
The working world has seen an increased focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives in recent years.
But what happens when companies are resistant to more ethical and sustainable practices? This is where shareholder activism comes in.
Shareholder activism is all about those who hold stocks in publicly-held companies influencing corporate behaviour by exercising their shareholder rights. Shareholder activism comes in many forms including seeking to change a company’s board members or publicly calling or a company to change.
We delve into shareholder activism with Jenna Armitage, Chief Marketing Officer of TulipShare. Jenna tells us what exactly shareholder activism is, why it’s important for sustainability, and how it can bring about change.
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