A group of Facebook shareholders are seeking to remove company’s
chief executive Mark Zuckerberg from the board of directors, claiming
that an independent chairperson would be able to “oversee the executives
of the company, improve corporate governance and set a more
accountable, pro-shareholder agenda” better, according to a report by
VentureBeat.
Members of consumer watchdog SumOfUS put the proposal, asking
Zuckerberg's ousting from board of directors of the social media
website.
“The shares held by four individual SumOfUs members enabled us to
file this proposal,” Lisa Lindsley, the capital marker advisor of
SumOfUs told VentureBeat. She informed that about 333,000 people had
signed the petition requesting Facebook improve its corporate
citizenship. However, only 1,5,00 out of 33,000 are actual shareholders
in the company.
In the proposal, SumOfUs members stated that shareholders value will
be enhanced by an independent board chairperson “who can provide a
balance of power between the CEO and the board.” According to the group
of members, “the combination of two roles, as the CEO and boar Chair,
in a single person weakens corporation governance, which can harm
shareholder value.
“Independent board leadership is sorely needed at Facebook following
its decision in 2016 to approve a new capital structure,” the proposal
reads.
The proposal has been called for a ‘constructive’ move, amid the
criticism the company been facing for its role in "misleading news,
censorship, hate speech and alleged inconsistencies in the application
of Facebook’s community standards guidelines and content policies;
targeting of ad views based on race; collaboration with law enforcement
and other government agencies; and calls for public accountability
regarding the human rights impacts of Facebook’s practices."
Courtesy: Deccan chronicle.
