MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwired - December 13, 2017) - Fenwick & West today released its Corporate Governance Survey for the 2017 proxy season, providing insight into the management, leadership and governance of technology and life sciences companies in Silicon Valley.
The survey covers more than a decade of governance trends, comparing companies in the S&P 100 and their smaller and younger counterparts in the Silicon Valley 150 (SV 150), highlighting similarities and differences over time. Newly this year, the survey offers a look at various types of majority voting and features of stock ownership guidelines, as well as additional detail on the makeup of executive officers.
The latest survey shows that longtime trends in the S&P 100 and SV 150 continued in the 2017 proxy season with a few exceptions, notably in the areas of dual-class stock structures and classified boards, where SV 150 companies are going their own way, in many cases to maximize protections against the vagaries of short-term market pressures-but also in board leadership where separation of chair and CEO roles is substantially more common.
Highlights of this year's key findings include the following:
Dual-Class Voting Stock Structure
Classified Boards
Majority Voting
Stock Ownership Guidelines
Board Diversity
Executive Officers
Complete results of the survey with related discussion are available at Fenwick.com/CorporateGovernance.
About the Survey
The Fenwick & West Corporate Governance Survey is authored by law firm partner David A. Bell. The survey provides insight into corporate governance practices of the companies included in the Standard & Poor's 100 Index (S&P 100) and the high technology and life sciences companies included in the Silicon Valley 150 Index (SV 150) each year. This unique body of information covers corporate governance trends for the period following the passage and implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The survey contains valuable data and intelligence for publicly traded technology and life sciences companies across the U.S. as well as public companies of all sizes and across industries generally.
About Fenwick & West
Fenwick & West LLP provides comprehensive legal services to ground-breaking technology and life sciences companies -- at every stage of their lifecycle -- and the investors that partner with them. We craft innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions on issues ranging from venture capital, public offerings, joint ventures, M&A and strategic relationships, to intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, taxation, antitrust, and employment and labor law. For more than four decades, Fenwick has helped some of the world's most recognized companies become and remain market leaders. For more information, visit fenwick.com.