On Friday, the shareholders of Chesapeake Energy Corp rejected the proposal that would allow the board of directors of the company be replaced in one fell swoop. The proposal is a one step process of declassifying the board and be changed quickly.
The process involve the elimination of the current board struture and have the eight directors' three year terms be staggered to assure continuity.
The proposal was borne out of two years of tumultuous leadership, where a number of Reuters investigations had become the basis of both civil and criminal investigations within the company.
The past year was also the time where activist investors such as Carl Icahn moved to shakeup the management and the company's board of directors. Unfortunately, the system of staggered board tenureship prevented the change in all the directors sitting in the board.
A number of board directors left in disgust in response to the highly charged intertwining board and corporate interests under the aegis of Aubrey McClendon, who was Chesapeake's founder and CEO until his resignation last year.
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