Dissident finds backing for SBS protest vote

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Discovery Group, which owns approximately 9.8% of the publicly traded Class A shares of Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), says Institutional Shareholder Services is backing its call for shareholders to withhold their votes for all nominees to the SBS board of directors. The protest is intended to register dissatisfaction with CEO Raul Alarcon’s refusal to either sell the company, take it private, or change its corporate governance to give public investors a greater say in how the company is run.


“The recommendation by ISS is yet another clear message to the Spanish Broadcasting Board of Directors that the status quo is unacceptable,” said Daniel J. Donoghue, a Managing Partner of Discovery Group.
Alarcon holds voting control of the company through his super-voting Class B shares, so the protest vote will not change the outcome. All of the director nominees will be elected.

RBR/TVBR observation: When you buy stock in a company where the founder has absolute voting control, you know that going in. The dissidents can protest all they like, but nothing will change until Raul Alarcon decides he wants it to change.