I've long promoted the idea of withholding votes for directors of companies who are paid too much. Well, even if all the shareholders withhold their votes, the directors of many companies get to keep their jobs. All that is required is a plurality of votes. Since one vote with no opposition is a plurality, they get to keep their jobs. And their perks. And accumulate more shares. And run the company without any consideration for the owners. Instead of Milton Friedman's corporate purpose of "shareholder value", they run the company for "director value".
For more, see "When Shareholder Democracy is Sham Democracy", James B. Stewart, New York Times, 2013-04-12.
