The world's largest aeroplane by wingspan has taken to the air.
The aircraft built by Stratolaunch is designed to act as a flying launch pad for satellites.
Its wingspan measures 385ft (117m) and on its maiden flight the jet reached speeds of about 170mph (274km/h).
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
The call to oust Mark Zuckerberg is coming from inside the house.
A group of investors have teamed up in an effort to replace the Facebook CEO and board chairman with an independent voice. The plan, put forth in an April 12 SEC filing, doesn't mince words in its critique of the 34-year-old fan of smoked meats.
"[Zuckerberg's] dual-class shareholdings give him approximately 60% of Facebook's voting shares, leaving the board, even with a lead independent director, with only a limited ability to check Mr. Zuckerberg's power," reads the statement supporting the proposal. "We believe this weakens Facebook's governance and oversight of management."
In other words, even Facebook investors think an unchecked Zuckerberg is bad for business. And in case that wasn't clear enough, they lay out a few examples demonstrating, in their view, how miserably he's screwed things up.
"We believe this lack of independent board Chair and oversight has contributed to Facebook missing, or mishandling, a number of severe controversies, increasing risk exposure and costs to shareholders," the proposal reads.
It goes on to provide the following examples: "Russian meddling in U.S. elections," "Sharing personal data of 87 million users with Cambridge Analytica," "Data sharing with device manufacturers, including Huawei that is flagged by U.S. Intelligence as a national security threat," "Proliferating fake news," "Propagating violence in Myanmar, India, and South Sudan," "Depression and other mental health issues, including stress and addiction," and "Allowing advertisers to exclude black, Hispanic, and other 'ethnic affinities' from seeing ads."
The plan, if adopted, would make "the Chair of the Board of Directors, whenever possible, be an independent member of the Board."
Unsurprisingly, Facebook isn't a fan. The company dismissed the need for an independent board chairperson, before reminding the investors in question that they don't really have the votes to pull off this maneuver.
"In addition," writes Facebook, "our stockholders rejected a similar proposal at our annual meeting of stockholders in 2017."
Even though this specific attempt to pull Zuckerberg's board chairmanship out from under him is destined to fail, the fact that it's a recurring effort sends a warning of looming accountability to the CEO. If not today, then tomorrow. Time will tell if he listens.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
World’s Largest Plane, Designed to Carry Satellite-Loaded Rockets, Takes Off From Mojave Desert for 1st Test Flight KTLA Los AngelesAfter years of development in the desert north of Los Angeles, a gigantic, six-engined megajet with the wingspan of an American football field took off from the ...
View full coverage on Google News
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.Reuters
Activist Facebook investors are again going to try to oust Mark Zuckerberg as chairman and abolish what they see as the firm's unfair share structure.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday, Facebook gave notice of its annual shareholder meeting on May 30 and confirmed the investor proposals that will be voted on during the event.
Among eight stockholder proposals, there are two that will be familiar to Zuckerberg and the rest of the board: Investors are making another attempt to force governance changes on the social network.
One is titled 'Stockholder Proposal Regarding an Independent Chair' and makes the case for Zuckerberg to be dethroned as chairman of the board, with an independent executive hired in his place.
Business Insider broke the news of the prosal in July last year after revealing the plans of activist shareholder Trillium Asset Management, which had grown tired of the "mishandling" of scandals including the Cambridge Analytica data breach.
Read more: These investors control $3 billion of Facebook stock — and they want to take Zuckerberg down
Responding to the proposal in the SEC filing, Facebook called on investors to vote it down.
"We believe our board of directors is functioning effectively under its current structure, and that the current structure provides appropriate oversight protections," Facebook said.
"We do not believe that requiring the Chair to be independent will provide appreciably better direction and performance, and instead could cause inefficiency in board and management function and relations."
Getty
The chance of it becoming a reality is extremely slim, despite it being backed by investors that control around $3 billion of Facebook stock. A similar proposal in 2017 was popular among independent investors but was crushed because of Zuckerberg's voting power.
This is because of Facebook's dual-class share structure. Class B shares have 10 times the voting power of class A shares, and it just so happens that Zuckerberg owns more than 75% of class B stock. It means he has more than half of the voting power at Facebook.
Which is why activist shareholders want to abolish the share structure. At the annual investor meeting, they will have the chance to vote on a proposal, which calls for the introduction of "fair and appropriate mechanisms through which disproportionate rights of Class B shareholders could be eliminated."
It said: "Fake news, election interference, and threats to our democracy -- shareholders need more than deny, deflect, and delay. We urge shareholders to vote FOR a recapitalization plan for all outstanding stock to have one vote per share."
It is not clear which investor has drawn up the proposal, but Facebook again calls for it to be dismissed by shareholders, as they have during the last five annual meetings. "We believe that our capital structure is in the best interests of our stockholders and that our current corporate governance structure is sound and effective," it said.
Facebook will almost certainly get its way. But the two investor proposals mark continued dissatisfaction among shareholders about the way Facebook is run following a year from hell for the company. It also shows that investors continue to believe that Zuckerberg has too much power.
