Meeting Notes from an Attendee

tpltblogger8 Comments

Thoughts from a friend of the blog:

1. Chair Barry gave an opening speach – proud of company and employees.


2. Murray gave a magnanimous talk. Said tpl is the best enterprise in the country if not the world.


3. Shareholder questions.
– was the vote to sue shareholders unanimous, aside from eric and murray. Yes.


– if the company loses lawsuit, will supporting board members resign. Barry said it’s up to them.


– will company reimburse shareholders for out of compact expenses connected to the lawsuit. Company tried to make requests as painless as possible per Dobbs.


– will board ratify shareholders proposals that pass? If yes, when? Board will meet to decide.


– why did company hire private investigators to investigate shareholders? After first denying it happened, company admitted to their lawyers hiring a firm for
‘Due diligence’ purposes.


– after the alleged fraudulent proxy incident regarding Sidley, board asked why Sidley wasn’t fired. Company denied there was a fraudulent proxy. We can all read the trial transcripts for ourselves.


– company asked who were the top shareholders they discussed management comp plans with. The room was asked to raise hands if management discussed comp plans with them – no hands raised.


– room was asked to raise hands if you supported no large M&A and using cash for share repurchases. Majority by far raised hands.


– management was asked why so much cash on balance sheet. Tyler said for m&a options.


-one shareholder commented his desire for tpl to have a Berkshire type annual meeting.

My thoughts on way forward:

Management and the board (aside from Eric and Murray) lost the faith of shareholders. Retirement of co-chairs was a start to repair damage, but not sufficient. Steps to regain credibility.

Suspend all asset sales.


Suspend all large M&A.


Start buying back shares in size.


Investigate previous allegations of wrong doing by co-chairs. If they are innocent, then issue is put to rest. If allegations proven true, then seek legal remedies.
Investigate alleged issues with the McGinnis and Glass Lewis proxy representations that were allegedly written by Sidley. If allegations have merit, seek remedies.


Immediately ratify all shareholder proposals that passed.


Allow shareholders to ask questions on earnings calls.

8 thoughts on “Meeting Notes from an Attendee”

  1. They forgot the co-chair’s critique of Gabbi’s sartorial choice. “Your shirt is more appropriate for the beach than a business meeting.”

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Excellent summary. I would like to see a split as the spread is too wide which both confuses and deters potential investors from buying stock….A 5:1

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Thank you for the summary (much appreciated) and your suggestions (all of them sound).

    “Investigate previous allegations of wrong doing by co-chairs. If they are innocent, then issue is put to rest. If allegations proven true, then seek legal remedies.
    Investigate alleged issues with the McGinnis and Glass Lewis proxy representations that were allegedly written by Sidley. If allegations have merit, seek remedies.”

    I would add: If allegations are true, then no out-of-court settlements. Seek punishment to the fullest extent of the law. There appear to be no reasons that these [FILL IN THE BLANK WITH COLORFUL ADJECTIVE] guys should be given any quarter.

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  6. I knew they were building cash for M&A purposes. Tyler is an idiot and this is a completely different business model than what has been proven for 100 years.

    He needs to be removed.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I also wonder about Tyler’s future and what process would be necessary to remove him from the CEO role and his seat on the Board (assuming, of course, there would be a suitable replacement). He has appeared to be a puppet in the Barry/Norris regime, but now who will he feel compelled to answer to? He needs to get off his M&A fantasies and desperation to prove his “active management” worth, and listen to what the shareholders want. Getting back to a string of consecutive quarters where earnings beat consensus estimates would be a start (even if those analyst estimates have no idea what they are talking about).

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