Intel won the award for best shareholder communications at the Corporate Governance Awards 2010, presented by IR magazine’s sister publication Corporate Secretary at Gotham Hall in New York in November.
Intel has a robust shareholder communications program, one example of which is its virtual annual meeting held in tandem with a small in-person event.
This dual format achieved broader participation and voting, especially among geographically diverse retail investors. But it also achieved a significant reduction in Intel’s carbon footprint by reducing travel costs for analysts, management, directors, journalists and other stakeholders.
Overall, the format ‘just made sense’ in the eyes of Intel’s management members, who believe that, as a technology company, Intel should be a leader in adopting new technologies and methods of communication.
A week before the event, Intel helped ensure stockholders had up-to-date information by holding an institutional investor/analyst meeting. The discussions were recorded and archived on the company’s website, where they are linked to the annual meeting and voting section. This event forms part of the online investor forum which, in the eyes of the judges for the Corporate Governance Awards, gives shareholders a unique opportunity to access information. It increases transparency by offering shareholders better access to management and letting them ask multiple questions before and during the meeting. All the questions and answers are also posted on the website so that other shareholders have access to them.
There’s more to Intel’s shareholder communications than the online meeting, however. The firm boasts one of the most advanced and multi-faceted social media disclosure programs of any US corporation. What’s more, social media at Intel aren’t just for customers – far from it. Intel was one of the first companies to venture into the social media space as a way of interacting with shareholders and delivering its corporate message. Among other elements, it has a Facebook page and several different Twitter accounts, and since 2007 it has used corporate blogs as a tool for customers and employees to communicate and collaborate directly.
Investors can view a series of videos describing corporate strategy and defining the message of management, and a full video of the previous year’s investor meeting is available at www.intc.com. The investor website and blogs are updated regularly and keep all stakeholders informed of any events that may affect the company.
If all that isn’t enough, just look at the companies Intel had to beat to take home the award this year, all of them outstanding communicators and social media experts: Best Buy, GE, Pfizer and Microsoft. In Intel’s case, it was the company’s thirst for innovation and the evidence of how seriously it takes transparency that ensured it won the 2010 award in this category.
A version of this article also appears in the January 2010 issue of Corporate Secretary.
