Other than the hotly contested vote at Fisher Communications, resulting in a 2-2 split, the elections of directors at media companies are routine matters with no actual contests. But we did find something interesting in the voting at Beasley Broadcast Group Inc. (BBGI).
Knowing that founder George Beasley (pictured) and his family have absolute control of the company – over 80% voting power due to their super-voting Class B shares – why would anyone buy shares in BBGI if they didn’t approve of how the Beasleys are running things? Nevertheless, someone (or perhaps several someones) with 1.3 million shares appear to be anti-Beasley.
In the board of directors election at this week’s annual shareholders meeting, the four Beasley family members each had more than 1.3 million more “withhold” votes than any of the candidates who did not have a last name beginning with “B.”
Here is the official vote tally filed with the SEC:
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For |
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Against |
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Abstentions |
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Directors Elected by Holders of All Classes of Common Stock |
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George G. Beasley |
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168,132,215 |
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1,318,202 |
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— |
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Bruce G. Beasley |
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168,092,215 |
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1,358,202 |
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— |
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Caroline Beasley |
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168,076,948 |
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1,373,469 |
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— |
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Brian E. Beasley |
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168,092,215 |
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1,358,202 |
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— |
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Joe B. Cox |
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169,417,789 |
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32,628 |
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— |
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Allen B. Shaw |
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169,435,238 |
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15,179 |
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— |
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Directors Elected by Holders of Class A Common Stock |
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Mark S. Fowler |
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2,808,808 |
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14,179 |
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— |
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Herbert W. McCord |
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2,808,808 |
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14,179 |
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— |
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RBR-TVBR observation: Even if their Class B shares didn’t have 10 votes each the Beasley family would still have far and away the largest economic interest in BBGI. Their 16 million or so shares are way more than the #2 shareholder, the two million held by Mario Gabelli’s mutual funds.
