Next month, shareholders of our largest oil and gas company, Woodside Energy, will vote on two highly controversial and important items – the company’s climate transition strategy and the future of its chairman, Richard Goyder.
In the lead-up to the vote, it is developing the hallmarks of a political campaign, with supporters and detractors publicly furnishing their positions with hopes of garnering fresh disciples.
Counting the votes: Richard Goyder will likely survive as chairman of Woodside.
And, like political campaigns, it’s getting dirty, with environmental groups, proxy firms, and even analysts getting into brawls complete with mudslinging, accusations, and barbed exchanges.
The financial performance of Woodside has taken second place to climate agendas and a Richard Goyder popularity contest.
For Goyder, this is arguably the most important shareholder vote in his long career at the helm of numerous listed companies. For the second time in less than a year, he is under intense pressure.
He is almost certainly now the country’s highest-profile company director, thanks to chairing Qantas during a period when it fell from grace, and its directors were found wanting. He will leave the airline this year after the shareholder backlash over its treatment of customers and legal proceedings brought by the competition regulator accusing the airline of selling tickets on cancelled flights.
The financial performance of Woodside has taken second place to climate agendas and a Richard Goyer popularity contest.
While the climate transition action plan and the re-election of Goyder are two separate votes, many shareholders regard them as highly interrelated.
If there is a significant vote against the climate plan, it surely does reflect heavily on the directors who have overseen it, and particularly on the chairman who sits at the head of the board table.
Qantas baggage haunts under-pressure Goyder at Woodside
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11.04.2024
Next month, shareholders of our largest oil and gas company, Woodside Energy, will vote on two highly controversial and important items – the company’s climate transition strategy and the future of its chairman, Richard Goyder.
In the lead-up to the vote, it is developing the hallmarks of a political campaign, with supporters and detractors publicly furnishing their positions with hopes of garnering fresh disciples.
Counting the votes: Richard Goyder will likely........
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