Wilson Sonsini’s “2024 Silicon Valley 150 Corporate Governance Report” benchmarks numerous corporate governance practices and trends among the 150 largest Silicon Valley companies (based on annual sales)—largely concentrated in the technology and life sciences industries.
Coverage includes (among other things):
- Boards and committees—board composition, tenure, and overboarding; board committee structure and size; board leadership; and the number of board and committee meetings
- Executive officers—how many; most common positions other than CEO & CFO; and female representation
- Defensive measures—classified boards; director removal requirements; majority or plurality vote standard; board authority to increase/decrease board size and fill vacancies; advance notice and proxy access bylaws; various stockholder rights (e.g., special meetings, written consent, amendment of charter/bylaws); poison pills; cumulative voting; capital structure
- Proxy statement disclosures—ESG; director skills matrix; board diversity; shareholder engagement; board evaluations; succession planning; cybersecurity; human capital; proxy statement summaries; meeting format
- Executive compensation—perks (prevalence and type); Pay Versus Performance company-selected measures; clawback policies
See the summary of key findings on pages 59 – 60.