Shareholders Meeting Changing With Times

A significant number of corporations that settled accounts in the past year are ready to hold their annual shareholders meetings.

In this year's meetings, more than 300 companies plan as their main focus of attention defense measures against hostile takeover bids.

Interestingly, more companies have introduced systems to allow shareholders to vote via the internet and cell phones to accommodate the new means, and will hold shareholders meetings on different dates from other firms.

This year also has seen firms more desperate to secure long-term stockholders by placing more importance on the interests of shareholders. According to a Forbes magazine survey, among the more than 130 companies considering defensive measures against corporate takeovers, ten may introduce the so-called poison pill defense of issuing share warrants to counter such actions.

Also, 90 of those firms plan to propose revisions of their corporate charters to expand possible issuance of authorized stocks at this year's meetings.

A new corporate law that is set to be enacted next year will liberalize the rules on so-called triangular mergers, in which foreign companies buy up various firms using their own shares.

For each of the companies, the introduction of defensive measures against hostile takeover bids is an urgent task. But unfortunately, some of the measures do not necessarily benefit shareholders.

Attention is being focused on how shareholders on both sides--those attempting takeovers and individual shareholders in target firms--will judge defense measures proposed at the meetings.

At one technological company