Like Duke Energy, shareholders at Netflix Inc., United Airlines Holdings Inc., and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and others have endorsed political spending disclosures in the sixth months since the riot, according to Bloomberg’s Proxy Tracker. The Netflix proposal received more than 80% shareholder support and the United proposal secured nearly 68% support.
The Capitol riot “exacerbated a risk that was already there” to corporate bottom lines, said Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability, a non-profit group that advocates for and partners with activist shareholders on transparency proposals.
That’s seen in this proxy season’s numbers, he said. Political spending proposals that manage to get votes at annual shareholder meetings are increasingly likely to get approved. Nearly 40% of the proposals were approved in 2021, compared to just 20% in 2020.