Cisco Systems shareholders voted 51.4% to 48.6% in favor of a proposal for an annual shareholder advisory vote on the compensation of its top executives, according to a company statement today.
Following its annual meeting Nov. 12, Cisco pronounced the voting on the say-on-pay proposal “too close” to call and didn’t provide any results.
“Whereas Cisco shareholders are clearly divided on this issue, the board will study closely the various ways companies have implemented the say on pay proposals and develop an appropriate plan for Cisco” in response to the Nov. 12 vote, the company said in the today’s statement.
“The vote tally … resulted in 34% of outstanding shares in favor, 32% opposed, and another 34% either actively abstaining or not voting on this issue,” the statement noted, looking at the voting results in the context of total shares outstanding, many of which are not voted.
The board gave no time frame for making a decision, said Ashley Zandy, Cisco spokeswoman.
Christian Brothers Investment Services, sponsor of the proposal, plans to contact the Cisco board later this month to ask it “to commit to give shareholders the (say-on-pay) vote in 2010,” said Julie Tanner, assistant director of socially responsible investing of CBIS.
The $196.6 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Sacramento, and the $133.7 billion Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, voted their shares in support of the proposal, according to separate statements by the pension funds.
