Davis Polk partner and Mergers & Acquisitions practice co-chair Louis Goldberg discussed with the Financial Times the impact of ExxonMobil’s new program for retail shareholder voting.

Thousands of U.S. public companies hold annual shareholder meetings with multiple proposals to vote on, but most shareholders, especially retail investors, do not vote because they lack the time and resources to evaluate the measures. ExxonMobil’s new program, developed with Davis Polk, aims to boost proxy voting by retail investors by enabling them to give a standing instruction to cast votes as recommended by the company’s board.

“This could be very impactful for Exxon and other companies with a lot of retail shareholders because if they can attract enough investors to sign up to the platform, then they have higher retail participation for future shareholder meetings unless they later choose to opt out or override the management vote at a meeting,” Louis explained.

“SEC allows Exxon plan to limit shareholder activism,” Financial Times (September 15, 2025) (subscription required)

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