With an impressive “all hands on deck” effort, Starbucks Corporation held its first-ever virtual only shareholder meeting on March 20th, mobilizing quickly to address the looming impact of COVID-19 on its 2020 annual meeting…a “big event”, where over 4,000 partners (employees) and shareholders were expected to attend in person again this year, and where Starbucks provides food, musical entertainment, goodie bags and more as part of their typical meeting experience.
Starbucks began thoroughly researching options in late February as cases grew in the Seattle area, starting with reviews of Washington state law, their own company bylaws, and consultations with peer companies including Microsoft which had recently conducted a virtual meeting. They also worked with outside counsel and Broadridge to draft an appropriate notice where they clearly stated that they were moving to a virtual format due to the Coronavirus.
Communication to shareholders was concise, making sure to check all of the regulatory boxes, and was sent to all shareholders via email and written notice:
“To the Shareholders of STARBUCKS CORPORATION:
Due to the emerging public health impact of the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) and to support the health and well-being of our partners and shareholders, NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the location of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Starbucks Corporation (the “Company”) has been changed. As previously announced, the Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 at 10:00 A.M., Pacific Time. In light of public health concerns regarding the coronavirus outbreak, the Annual Meeting will be held in a virtual meeting format only. You will not be able to attend the Annual Meeting physically.”
The 54 minute virtual annual meeting webcast on March 20th was mighty impressive, and served as part “marketing event” and part formal business meeting, in a format that sets the standard in our view, of how to run a successful virtual only annual meeting. Starbucks typically webcasts their annual meeting so there was some experience here. Shareholders on the VSM participated by entering in their control number on the webcast link which allowed them to vote and ask questions, and guests could watch the webcast but could not ask questions.
The webcast began with a fast-paced “highlight reel” of media clips featuring customers, partners and financial analysts, showcasing Starbucks’ accomplishments in 2019. The meeting transitioned nicely to a thoughtful (pre-recorded) welcome message from President and CEO Kevin Johnson who acknowledged the Board of Directors, all of whom joined the meeting remotely.
At the twenty-one minute mark there was a “virtual hand-off” from Mr. Johnson to the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Rachel Gonzalez to conduct the official business of the meeting (also pre-recorded). The meeting script covered all of the required bases and Ms. Gonzalez referenced the list of registered shareholders that was made available to registered shareholders via the “Shareholder List” link on the webcast page.
The meeting was promptly called to order with a quorum present, the Inspector of Election was introduced, and the proposals under consideration were announced (4 total) including a shareholder proposal that was presented by the shareholder proponent who dialed in on a call that was managed by Broadridge, which ran the virtual meeting platform. The Board of Directors was introduced as part of the “election of directors” proposal, with a photo of each Director shown on the webcast…a very nice personal touch we thought. The polls were closed for voting, the preliminary results were announced by the Secretary, and the official portion of the meeting was adjourned…all in rapid succession, and exactly the way an annual meeting should run.
After a brief pause, Starbucks then conducted a live Q&A through the Broadridge platform with a panel of company execs on the webcast to answer shareholder questions…another nice touch, and another “best practice” for holding a successful virtual only meeting.
CLICK HERE to see the entire Starbucks Virtual Meeting and learn from their how-to playbook.
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