Investors are shifting from supporting transactions to directly challenging boards, using pay votes and director opposition to enforce accountability as formal shareholder channels narrow.

BP’s 2026 AGM should be understood first as the consequence of a mishandled governance issue, and only second as a response to activist campaigning.

This proxy update highlights key voting outcomes from the past few weeks of the 2026 proxy season and assesses key developments for the week ahead.

On 27 May, ExxonMobil shareholders will vote on a ballot that includes a proposal to redomicile the company from New Jersey to Texas.

Aviva plc, the UK‑listed insurer and asset manager, has confirmed that its 2026 Annual General Meeting will be held at its regional office in York on 6 May, starting at 9am.

A proposal from ExxonMobil to shift its legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas lands at a moment when shareholder proposals have all but disappeared from its annual meetings and the company has introduced new structures that reshape how shareholder votes are cast and counted.

A clash over a BP shareholder resolution, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) retreat from traditional proposal review and ExxonMobil’s planned move to Texas all point to the same trend: management and regulators are testing the boundaries of shareholder scrutiny.

Starbucks shareholders have called on their fellow investors to vote against the re-election of two company directors at its 25 March AGM due to “sustained oversight failures of labor relations”.

Amazon looks set to exclude at least seven shareholder proposals from its 2026 proxy statement without formal assent from the US Securities and Exchange Commission

Disney has revealed that three shareholder proposals from anti-ESG proponents will be voted on at its 2026 AGM amid concerns over litigation should resolutions be excluded following controversial changes to the ‘no action’ process.