So far in 1999, says Pat McGurn of Institutional Shareholder Services, which provides institutional investors with proxy analysis, disaffected shareholders have already won a vote in six contests to put their candidates on corporate boards but reached a favourable settlement in 25 more.
Whichever slate got most votes would win, but the system is so weighted in favour of the official proxy, which the board is free to spend as much as it likes promoting, that contests rarely happen.