Plenty of focus on the new breed of shareholder this season.

A record number of shareholder resolutions were on file for this year and they were mainly in three areas: global warming, toxins and political contributions, says Thomas Kostigen from MarketWatch.

There is also growing support for majority voting in director Elections, reports Institutional Shareholder Services:

"Shareholder support for proposals seeking majority voting in director elections has averaged 47.4 percent support at 78 meetings this season. Last year, those proposals averaged 44 percent at 60 firms. This season, majority vote proposals received an average of 55.1 percent approval at 31 meetings where companies had not previously announced board election reforms such as a director resignation policy."



The Social Investment Forum has estimated that the number of social and environmental resolutions in the first half of 2006 rose 7 percent to 180, while governance-related resolutions rose 4 percent to 400, according to a CorpWatch report, A Proxy Battle: Shareholders vs. CEOs.

Few of the resolutions put up by shareholders have passed but that's not the point. Change is in the air, and it's a warning sign for CEOs and directors of what's ahead.

Until now shareholders would routinely vote in accordance with the advice of the people they employ to run the company but now they are voting against the recommendations of managers, reports The Economist. And they have had the taste of blood.

"Shareholders may have been radicalised by the success last year of a lobbying effort by managers against a proposal from regulators to make it easier for shareholders to put up candidates in board elections. It remains to be seen if they will be back for more in 2007. Certainly, some of the activist shareholders behind this year's resolutions have big plans. Where new voting rules are in place, they plan campaigns to vote out the chairman of the compensation committee at any firm that they think overpays the boss. If the 2006 annual meeting was unpleasant for managers, next year's could be far worse."