General Meeting held online. Vision, or reality ?

For some time now, I have been wondering whether we really need general meetings of publicly listed companies. Based on my observations, I would venture that the general meeting of a public company is either a type of ritual (one which, given the role and character of the key decision makers, is shunned by the general mass of shareholders) or, less often, a no-holds-barred free-for-all, with the parties to the conflict absolving themselves of any standards of conduct.

In the former scenario, the general meeting tends to progress expeditiously, and the shareholders are interested mainly in analysing the wording of the resolutions to be adopted. In the latter case, meanwhile, the general meeting assumes the characteristics of theatre, be it high drama or burlesque, and whatever substantive issues are at stake end up being decided later on, before the courts. In other words, the essence of the general meeting centres on the resolutions which it adopts […]

The entire article available in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.