Since companies have been able to hold their shareholder meetings digitally, investors have seen the stock culture in Germany at risk. Now the federal government is supporting the companies – despite all criticism.
There were bankruptcies, bad luck and mishaps when Andreas Thomae, Deka fund manager, met in the spring Commerzbank Annual General Meeting wanted to have his say: His video call ended after a short time. A second attempt also failed. The investor then decided not to make a third attempt. At the travel group TUI, nothing happened technically for an hour at the shareholders’ meeting in mid-February. Even the sigh of the chairman of the supervisory board, Dieter Zetsche, “Keep your fingers crossed for yourself and for us,” didn’t help. At Siemens Energy, shareholders were initially denied access, and some black screens were seen during the discussion. Such and similar mishaps occurred several times at shareholder meetings this year. At the protection association DSW, shareholders can now see the disruptions even report it.