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Associates have a ball at Wal-Mart's shareholder meeting

Brian White — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:40:00 EST

Filed under: Annual Meetings, Wal-Mart (WMT)

When I attended the most recent Wal-Mart shareholder meeting, I was quite amazed at the overall feel of the event. It did not feel like a shareholder meeting at all, but more like an entertainment venue. The amount of celebrities brought in before the meeting's day and during the meeting itself was quite impressive. From Jimmy Buffett to recent American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, there was no shortage of entertainment talent.

But that was not the focus. First and foremost were Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) associates. The entire shareholder meeting centered around Wal-Mart employees. Stories about the heroism and genuine goodness of Wal-Mart's employees went on for hours, with several examples from Wal-Mart locations outside the U.S. In looking at this Wal-Mart employee's account, this seems to be the highlight of the year for many Wal-Mart employees. It's like an awards convention of sorts if certain associates are accepted to attend, and the general attitude is that it's quite an event to be an actual associate and also be in attendance when one of these shareholder meetings happen.

The business portion of the meeting, as I referenced earlier, was actually too short from my perspective. Maybe Wal-Mart likes it that way. With WMT shares having remained stagnant for years, I would have though there would be more pressure from institutions holding shares to get Wal-Mart's "butt in gear" when it comes to doing something to ensure a decent return is happening on all those millions of shares. While it's hard to grow a $344 billion company, there are definitely areas to improve upon.

Associates have a ball at Wal-Mart's shareholder meeting originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wal-Mart's shareholder meeting coming up

Brian White — Wed, 09 May 2007 12:14:00 EST

Filed under: Rumors, Management, Wal-Mart (WMT), Employees

With Wal-Mart Stores' (NYSE: WMT) annual shareholder meeting coming up on June 1st, wouldn't we all like to be there? From the showmanship and grandstanding that Wal-Mart likes to put on to dissing shareholder requests without a modicum of thought (or so it seems), this time more pressing matters should be in focus: where have Wal-Mart sales gone and why is Lee Scott taking home millions while WMT investors have seen little movement in the stock price in half a decade?

The black helicopters will most certainly be in play (watch out for dark sunglasses) inside the shareholder meeting, and tactics straight out of Mission Impossible will be used to make sure any unrest is quelled and the crowd remains passive. Wal-Mart's security apparatus is headed by Kenneth Senser, a onetime senior FBI and CIA official, so expect state-of-the-art surveillance techniques -- at a public company's shareholder meeting. Could there be a clearer picture of "we trust nobody?"

With all the security (Bruce Gabbard), executive (Tom Coughlin) and PR (Julie Roehm) scandals and black eyes, Wal-Mart's growth rate stumbled in 2006 even as revenues rose to a new record (though profits just inched up). The company's international plans are in flux right now and the company's common stock has not beaten the S&P 500 since 2003. Only if you've been long on WMT for more than 10 years have you done well. Do you think there will be quite a few happenings come June 1st? I think so.

Wal-Mart's shareholder meeting coming up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 May 2007 12:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wal-Mart watching activist shareholders?

Brian White — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:23:00 EST

Filed under: Other Issues, Rumors, Wal-Mart (WMT)

It seems that some Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) shareholders may have been targeted by Wal-Mart security forces as "potential threats" if they had submitted shareholder resolutions for the retailer's upcoming annual shareholders meeting. In an internal memo, shareholders who spoke up with rational voices for the June 1 meeting are having been rumored to be in the "research" pile for Wal-Mart's internal security team. Wow, nice way to treat concerned stockholders, eh?

The rumor most likely has some truth to it, as Wal-Mart lawyers ended up speaking with a few investor groups to apologize for using the phrase "potential threat" in a memo to describe shareholders seeking to propose resolutions to the retailer during its next annual meeting.

Wal-Mart responded by stating that the memo did exist and that it was a standard operating procedure for the retailer's security team to review "potential areas of concern" before each shareholders meeting. In perfect inconsistent fashion, Wal-Mart said "This is mainly using the internet and other public sources to obtain background information ... we did not authorize any surveillance for any of the 14 shareholder groups this year."

Other verbiage from investor groups contacted by Wal-Mart said that company lawyers told them nothing had been done -- not even background internet research. Hmm, who's to believe here? With Wal-Mart's security team headed by CIA and FBI veterans, you better have a clean slate if you wish to propose shareholder resolutions.

Wal-Mart watching activist shareholders? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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