Company: DTK
Filing Date: 2025-03-13
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000936340-25-000081
Chunk: 82

Company: DTE ENERGY CO
Filing Date: 2025-03-13
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 82
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 the Company.

The Board’s reduction of the special meeting threshold from 25% to 15% demonstrates that the Board recognizes the importance of giving shareholders a meaningful right to call special meetings in appropriate circumstances. However, maintaining the continuous one-year stock ownership requirement prevents misuse of the process by a small minority of shareholders who may be pursuing narrow, short-term interests at the expense of the larger body of shareholders.

The one-year holding period is consistent with the SEC’s minimum holding period pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act, which enables a shareholder to include a proposal in an issuer’s proxy statement. In adopting the holding requirements under Rule 14a-8, the SEC indicated that the holding period should be calibrated such that a shareholder has some meaningful “economic stake or investment interest” in a company before the shareholder may draw on company and shareholder resources to command the time and attention of other shareholders for considering and voting on the proposal. The Board believes the SEC’s reasoning is equally applicable to the Company’s one-year holding requirement for requesting a special meeting. Additionally, under that same Rule, shareholders with minimal holdings are already able to present proposals, such as this one, at annual meetings.

Special Meetings Require Substantial Company Time and Divert Resources.

Special shareholder meetings are costly and time-consuming, and the significant administrative and planning burdens on the Board and senior management may serve as a distraction from our mission to serve our customers and shareholders efficiently. The Company must pay to prepare, print, and distribute to shareholders the legal disclosure documents related to the meeting, solicit proxies, hold the special meeting, tabulate votes and, for a virtual meeting, engage a service provider to host the meeting online. A special shareholder meeting should only be convened when urgent and extraordinary matters merit shareholder attention before the next regularly scheduled annual meeting. A diversion from this standard is against the best interests of the shareholders overall if serving only the narrow interests of the short-term shareholder(s) requesting a special meeting.

The Company’s Existing Governance Practices Provide Shareholders with Meaningful Opportunity to Address Acute Issues.

Our shareholder engagement process, described earlier in this proxy statement, is designed to surface shareholder concerns of any kind, including those related to governance, strategy, and environmental concerns. Company officers meet regularly with our shareholders outside of the annual meeting cycle regarding areas of interest or concern.

Shareholders can be assured that their right to be apprised of and vote on significant matters is protected not only by their existing right to call for special meetings and participate in the Company’s annual meetings, but