Hewlett-Packard Co. shareholders voted to elect all 11 nominees for director, although five directors who were the subject of pension fund opposition received a large percentage of the vote against their retention.
Raymond J. Lane, executive chairman, was re-elected with a vote of 58.88% in favor, and Rajiv L. Gupta, lead independent director, 80.25% in favor. In addition, independent directors Marc L. Andreessen received 69.77% in favor; John H. Hammergren, 53.91%; and G. Kennedy Thompson, 55.15%, according to Michael Thacker, HP spokesman.
Other directors received votes in favor ranging from 90.03% to 98.38%.
The $254.9 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, $162.3 billion Florida State Board of Administration, C$117.1 billion (US$114.2 billion) Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and the $850 million American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Pension Plan each voted against one or more of the five directors that received large votes in opposition.
In addition, shareholders voted 75.3% in favor of the executive compensation program and 87.2% in favor of amending an executive stock incentive plan. In a vote that required a two-thirds majority to pass, they voted 68.2% in favor of proxy access enabling eligible shareholders to nominate up to 20% of the board's directors.
In addition, shareholders voted 84.7% to retain Ernst & Young as HP's auditor.
All shareholder proposals were defeated: forming a board committee on human rights, by 84.3% against; amending HP's human-rights policy, by 78.8% against; and requiring senior executives to retain a significant percentage of HP shares acquired through equity pay programs until reaching normal retirement age, by 71.7% against.
