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2026 Proxy Season Results in Silicon Valley and Large Companies Nationwide

By: David A. Bell, Wendy Grasso

Shareholder activism is widespread among the largest U.S. public companies, with diverse activists pursuing campaigns on issues ranging from governance to policy through shareholder proposals and strategic voting. As shareholder activism has continued to grow and the prominence of the technology industry has increased, that activism has spread to public companies based in Silicon Valley. In recent years, investors and activist shareholders alike have increasingly focused their attention on public companies’ efforts to address larger environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, although, beginning in 2025, this focus began to soften alongside a surge in campaigns challenging ESG priorities.

This report summarizes significant developments related to stockholder voting at annual meetings during the 2026 proxy season among the technology and life sciences companies included in the Fenwick Silicon Valley 150 List (SV 150). The report also discusses significant recent developments at the Securities and Exchange Commission that could reshape stockholder proposals in 2027 and beyond.

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Selected 2026 Highlights: 

  • The total number of stockholder proposals on which SV 150 companies voted increased slightly in 2026, while the total number of stockholder proposals on which S&P 100 companies voted decreased. The number of stockholder proposals at SV 150 companies increased slightly from 67 in 2025 to 70 in 2026. The S&P 100 saw a decrease from 204 in 2025 to 187 in 2026. This decrease can be attributed primarily to a decrease in the number of compensation proposals (20 in 2025; 7 in 2026) and policy issue proposals (147 in 2025; 110 in 2026), offsetting an increase in governance proposals (34 in 2025; 68 in 2026).
  • The total number of policy issue proposals increased slightly for SV 150 companies, but decreased for S&P 100 companies. While S&P 100 companies saw an overall drop in policy issue proposals, including a significant drop in anti-discrimination/diversity proposals (44 in 2025; 21 in 2026) and a more modest drop in environmental/sustainability proposals (48 in 2025; 39 in 2026), SV 150 companies saw a slight increase in these proposals (32 in 2025; 34 in 2026), which included a noticeable rise in environmental/sustainability proposals (4 in 2025; 9 in 2026). For S&P 100 companies, the only category of policy issue proposals that increased from 2025 to 2026 was human rights proposals (20 in 2025; 27 in 2026).
  • Average support for stockholder proposals decreased at SV 150 companies and increased at S&P 100 companies. Average support across all categories of stockholder proposals (compensation, governance, policy issues, and general business) decreased for the SV 150 companies, from 18.0% in 2025 to 17.1% in 2026, with a sharp decrease in support for compensation proposals (22.5% in 2025; 7.3% in 2026), an increase in support for governance proposals (29.8% in 2025; 33.2% in 2026), and a decrease in support for policy issue proposals (9.2% in 2025; 4.6% in 2026). For the S&P 100, average support increased across all categories of stockholder proposals from 12.5% in 2025 to 16.2% in 2026.
  • The number of stockholder proposals passing at SV 150 and S&P 100 companies increased in 2026. Five stockholder proposals passed at SV 150 companies in 2026 (two related to board declassification, two related to the elimination of supermajority voting, and one related to adopting a majority voting standard in director elections), compared to two proposals in 2025. Three proposals passed at S&P 100 companies in 2026 (one related to board declassification, and two related to elimination of supermajority voting), compared to one proposal in 2025.
  • The number of company proposals for the SV 150 and S&P 100 companies increased in 2026. SV 150 companies had 106 company proposals in 2026, compared to 94 in 2025. S&P 100 companies had 70 company proposals in 2026, compared to 50 in 2025.
  • SV 150 companies and S&P 100 companies saw slightly more support for say-on-pay proposals in 2026. Two SV 150 companies failed their say-on-pay vote, compared to one failure in 2025, but the average percentage of votes “for” of shares cast (ignoring broker non-votes and abstentions) for say-on-pay proposals was 89.2%, compared to 88.4% in 2025 and 87.3% in 2024. One S&P 100 company failed its say-on-pay vote, compared to two failures in 2025, and the average percentage of votes “for” of shares cast (ignoring broker non-votes and abstentions) for say-on-pay proposals was 88.1%, compared to 87.5% in 2025, down from 88.3% in 2024.