UK Edition
Facebook shareholders revolt in bid to topple Mark Zuckerberg as chairman
A majority of Facebook investors have backed calls to remove CEO Mark Zuckerberg from his dual role as chairman of the social networking giant.
More than 67pc of independent Facebook shareholders voted to install an independent chair at Facebook, representing a significant vote against the current leadership.
However Zuckerberg, who controls around 58pc of the voting rights at Facebook thanks to shares which grant him 10 votes to one ordinary share, was able to vote down the shareholder proposals.
Independent and activist shareholders have called for greater accountability at Facebook and governance reform following a year of scandals from data breaches to Cambridge Analytica.
Jonas Kron, senior vice president at Trillium Asset Management, which supported the measures, called the shareholder vote “very significant ”.
“It is overwhelmingly clear that investors want a significant change,” he said.
One leading shareholder, who declined to be named, told The Telegraph: “We all recognise that Facebook has made mistakes as a company, and we want to see management continuing to focus on addressing their various challenges and rebuilding trust. We recognise that this will take some time. ”
A number of top shareholders were expected to vote in favour of the reform proposals, which included introducing one to one votes to remove the power of Mr Zuckerberg's preference shares, and introducing majority votes for directors.
Major US state pension funds from New York, Illinois and Rhode Island all supported the proposals to implement an independent chair at Facebook.
The revolt follows a wave of activism from Silicon Valley investors who have sought to curb the power of some of the biggest technology companies.
Despite support from independents, insider votes still allowed Facebook's board to overwhelmingly vote down the measures.
The measure to remove Mr Zuckerberg as chair garnered around 1.3bn dissenting votes. On his own, Mr Zuckerberg controls as many as 4bn votes.
The revolt comes as Facebook finds itself at the centre of investigations over privacy and calls for politicians for a break-up. The company is expected to be hit by a record-breaking fine from the US Federal Trade Commission in the coming weeks.