An attempted boardroom coup at Vancouver’s Glance Technologies Inc. (CSE:GET), launched by a former president who wanted to take the company in a different direction, has failed. Shareholders, however, reacted to the news on June 13 by sending shares down nearly 32% on nearly 10 times the average volume.
The showdown highlighted the risk a company faces when its board or top executive dismisses another top executive. The feud also had elements of a family squabble, given that CEO Desmond Griffin is brother-in-law to former president Penny Green. The lead-up to the potential coup had plenty of bickering between the parties.
Glance revealed June 12 that approximately 47 million shares were voted in support of Griffin, whereas approximately 29.5 million shares were voted in support of Green.
Each person on Griffin’s slate of five candidates attracted the votes of more than 46,850,000 shares, while, other than Green, who received 29,507,230 votes, each of the five directors on Green’s slate received the votes of fewer than 29,500,000 shares.
“We look forward to focusing all of our energy on advancing our strategy and delivering value for shareholders after the annual general meeting, when we will have put this unnecessary proxy contest behind us,” Griffin said in a release.
The battle for boardroom control was in part a battle over the future strategy for the company that is best known for having an app that allows restaurant patrons to take photos of their restaurant bills as a method to pay those bills.
Green had advocated a strategy of expanding Glance through acquisitions, alliances, strategic partnerships and new business development.
She also said before the vote that she wanted a “robust investor relations strategy to raise awareness about the incredible Glance opportunities.”
Griffin, in contrast, said that his vision was to focus on developing new versions of the company’s app and building revenue from a software-as-a-service subscription model. Both Griffin and Green voiced support for generating revenue by creating a blockchain platform.
Green let her thoughts be heard following the vote.
“My fear is that despite the message sent [June 12], the board still doesn’t get it,” she said in a June 13 release.
“Disappointingly, instead of listening to shareholders and talking about value-building options for Glance, the board has spent the last few weeks letting good governance practices fall by the wayside, being fiscally irresponsible in their attempts to keep their seats, and conducting a campaign of personal attacks against my nominees – respected global leaders in the fintech, blockchain and finance industries.”
Glance Technologies’ shares fell $0.27, to close at $0.58 on June 13. Trading involved more than 6.7 million shares transacting, which is nearly 10 times the 687,538 shares that trade on an average day, according to Yahoo Finance.
