Glass Lewis Endorses Company’s Leadership and
Strategy to Continue Delivering Stockholder Value
Firm Emphasizes Company’s Peer-Leading
Operational Performance and Market-leading Position in Tokenization
and Digital Assets
WisdomTree Urges Stockholders to Vote
“FOR” ALL NINE of
its Highly Qualified Director Nominees on the WHITE Proxy Card
WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE: WT), a global financial innovator, today
announced that Glass Lewis, a leading independent proxy advisory
firm, has recommended that stockholders vote “FOR” all WisdomTree proposals, including
“FOR” all nine members of WisdomTree’s Board of
Directors, including Anthony Bossone, Win Neuger and Jonathan
Steinberg, at WisdomTree’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders
(“2024 Annual Meeting”).
Win Neuger, Chair of the WisdomTree Board of Directors, said,
“We are pleased that Glass Lewis recognizes the value WisdomTree
continues to deliver to its stockholders. After a careful review of
the facts and meeting with representatives of WisdomTree’s Board,
Glass Lewis affirms that our current strategy is working and has
resulted in strong financial results, peer-leading stockholder
returns and momentum across our business, including through our
growing digital assets strategy.”
Glass Lewis also reiterates the invaluable institutional
knowledge that Messrs. Neuger, Bossone and Steinberg bring to the
Board, which has been significantly refreshed over the past three
years. Glass Lewis determined that dissident stockholder ETFS
Capital’s arguments as part of its campaign to disrupt the
Company’s continued progress “are insufficient and unconvincing,
and therefore, do not warrant shareholder opposition to Management
Nominees Bossone, Neuger and Steinberg at this time.”1
Regarding WisdomTree’s strong performance and growing digital
assets strategy, Glass Lewis wrote in its report:
- “The one- and three-year growth rates in annual revenue and
EBITDA of the Company through CY2023 outpaced
all (or substantially all) of the corresponding growth rates
observed in the Traditional Asset Manager Peer Group.”
- “Over the unaffected one- and three-year periods ended February
26, 2024, the average NTM EBITDA, EBIT, and
EPS multiples of the Company significantly exceeded the
corresponding trading multiples observed in 11 out of 12 firms in
the Traditional Asset Manager Peer Group, trailing only BlackRock
by a narrow margin with differences in the low single-digits.”
- “Taken together, our findings suggest that the Company’s operating performance has been reasonably
in line with or better than its peers over the past year,
and investors may have already been ascribing a premium trading
valuation to the Company’s shares compared to other traditional
asset managers.”
- “We maintain our belief that the stated
vision of the Company’s board and management team is more
compelling than that of the Dissident…Considering the
Company’s early-mover advantage and market-leading position in
tokenization and digital assets, we believe the Dissident’s calls
for the Company to abandon the DeFi initiatives continue to be premature at this stage.”
- “While the Dissident contends that the recent run-up in the
Company’s share price is owed to its activism efforts…we believe the Company’s share price was already showing
positive momentum prior to the current proxy campaign being waged
by the Dissident.”
- “In our view, the Company has been striking a reasonable balance of maintaining relatively
strong operational performance while investing in long-term growth
potential in the DeFi space.”
Regarding WisdomTree’s Board refreshment and corporate
governance practices, Glass Lewis wrote in its report:
- “The board has made meaningful strides to
empower its newer directors while still maintaining the institutional knowledge offered by the
longer-tenured directors.”
- “We believe the board has been
significantly refreshed in recent years, as six of the nine
incumbent directors have board tenures of no more than three years,
with each of the key board committees being
chaired by relatively newer directors.”
Glass Lewis also recommended that stockholders vote in favor of
WisdomTree’s executive compensation proposal, stating that “the
Company continues to adequately align pay and performance.”
Additionally, Glass Lewis recommended that stockholders vote in
favor of WisdomTree’s stockholder rights plan, concluding that “the
plan is reasonable.”
WisdomTree urges stockholders to send a message to Mr.
Tuckwell that enough is enough, and to repudiate ETFS Capital’s
campaign to disrupt the Company’s success and momentum.
Glass Lewis has made an independent assessment and concluded
that there is no case for change at WisdomTree. In line with the
firm’s recommendations, WisdomTree urges stockholders to vote
“FOR” all nine director nominees using
the WHITE proxy card, including
Anthony Bossone, Win Neuger, and Jonathan Steinberg, to ensure
WisdomTree stays on the right track and is overseen by a Board with
the right mix of skillsets, expertise and institutional knowledge
to oversee the Company’s growth.
Stockholders can find out more about the proxy vote at the 2024
Annual Meeting by visiting the WisdomTree investor relations
website and navigating to the page entitled “2024 Annual Meeting”:
https://ir.wisdomtree.com/2024-annual-meeting-proxy-vote.
YOUR
VOTE IS IMPORTANT!
PLEASE VOTE THE WHITE PROXY CARD TODAY “FOR” ALL WISDOMTREE NOMINEES!
Remember, you can vote your
shares via the Internet. Please follow the easy
instructions on the enclosed
WHITE proxy card.
If you have any questions or need
assistance in voting
your shares on the
WHITE proxy card, please
contact our proxy solicitor:
Innisfree M&A
Incorporated
Stockholders and All Others Call
Toll Free: (877) 750-5836
Banks and Brokers Call: (212)
750-5833
Advisors
BofA Securities is serving as financial advisor, and Paul
Hastings and Goodwin Procter are serving as legal counsel to
WisdomTree. Innisfree M&A is serving as proxy solicitor, and
H/Advisors Abernathy is serving as strategic communications
advisor.
About WisdomTree
WisdomTree is a global financial innovator, offering a
well-diversified suite of exchange-traded products (ETPs), models,
solutions and products leveraging blockchain technology. We empower
investors and consumers to shape their future and support financial
professionals to better serve their clients and grow their
businesses. WisdomTree is leveraging the latest financial
infrastructure to create products that provide access, transparency
and an enhanced user experience. Building on our heritage of
innovation, we are also developing and have launched
next-generation digital products, services and structures,
including digital or blockchain-enabled mutual funds and tokenized
assets, as well as our blockchain-native digital wallet, WisdomTree
Prime®.*
*The WisdomTree Prime digital wallet and digital asset services
are made available through WisdomTree Digital Movement, Inc. (NMLS
ID: 2372500) and WisdomTree Digital Trust Company, LLC, in select
U.S. jurisdictions and may be limited where prohibited by law.
WisdomTree Digital Trust Company, LLC is chartered as a limited
purpose trust company by the New York State Department of Financial
Services to engage in virtual currency business. Visit
https://www.wisdomtreeprime.com or the WisdomTree Prime mobile app
for more information.
WisdomTree currently has approximately $109 billion in assets
under management globally.
For more information about WisdomTree and WisdomTree Prime®,
visit: https://www.wisdomtree.com.
Please visit us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at
@WisdomTreeNews.
WisdomTree® is the marketing name for WisdomTree, Inc. and its
subsidiaries worldwide.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Any statements contained in this letter that do not describe
historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. Such statements are identified by use of the words
“anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,”
“plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” “views,” and similar
expressions. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are
based on current expectations, but are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those indicated, including, but not limited to, the impact and
contributions of the slate of director nominees WisdomTree has
nominated, and WisdomTree’s ability to achieve its financial and
business plans, goals and objectives and drive stockholder value,
including with respect to its ability to successfully implement its
strategy relating to WisdomTree Prime®, and other risk factors
discussed from time to time in WisdomTree’s filings with the SEC,
including those factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors”
in its most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC
on February 23, 2024, and in subsequent reports filed with or
furnished to the SEC. WisdomTree assumes no obligation and does not
intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as
required by law, to reflect events or circumstances occurring after
today’s date.
Important Information Regarding the 2024 Annual Meeting and
Where to Find It
The Company has filed with the SEC a definitive proxy statement
on Schedule 14A (the “Proxy Statement”), containing a form of
WHITE proxy card, in connection
with the solicitation of proxies for the 2024 Annual Meeting and,
beginning on April 29, 2024, mailed the Proxy Statement and other
relevant documents to its stockholders as of the April 19, 2024
record date for the 2024 Annual Meeting. This communication is not
a substitute for any proxy statement or other document that the
Company has filed or may file with the SEC in connection with any
solicitation by the Company. THE COMPANY’S STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED
TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR
SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ACCOMPANYING WHITE PROXY CARD FILED BY THE
COMPANY AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC
CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL
CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. The Company’s stockholders may
obtain copies of these documents and other documents filed with the
SEC by the Company free of charge through the website maintained by
the SEC at www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed by the
Company are also available free of charge by accessing the
Company’s website at https://ir.wisdomtree.com/.
Certain Information Regarding Participants in the
Solicitation
The Company, its directors and certain of its executive officers
and employees may be deemed to be participants in connection with
the solicitation of proxies from the Company’s stockholders in
connection with the matters to be considered at the 2024 Annual
Meeting. Information regarding the direct and indirect interests,
by security holdings or otherwise, of the Company’s directors and
executive officers in the Company is included in the Proxy
Statement under the heading “Security Ownership of Certain
Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters”,
which was filed with the SEC on April 29, 2024 and can be found
through the SEC’s website. To the extent holdings of the Company’s
securities by such potential participants (or the identity of such
participants) have changed since the information printed in the
Proxy Statement, such information has been or will be reflected in
Statements of Change in Ownership on Forms 3 and 4 filed with the
SEC. These documents are or will be available free of charge at the
SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Disclaimer
WisdomTree has neither sought nor obtained the consent from any
third party to use any statements or information contained in this
press release that have been obtained or derived from statements
made or published by such third parties. Any such statements or
information should not be viewed as indicating the support of such
third parties for the views expressed herein.
Category: Business Update
_________________ 1 Permission to use Glass Lewis quotations was
neither sought nor obtained. Emphasis added.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240531361262/en/
Investor Relations WisdomTree, Inc. Jeremy Campbell
+1.917.267.3859 Jeremy.campbell@wisdomtree.com
Media Relations WisdomTree, Inc. Jessica Zaloom +1.917.267.3735
jzaloom@wisdomtree.com
H/Advisors Abernathy Tom Johnson / Dana Gorman
tom.johnson@h-advisors.global / dana.gorman@h-advisors.global
WisdomTree (NYSE:WT)
過去 株価チャート
から 5 2024 まで 6 2024
WisdomTree (NYSE:WT)
過去 株価チャート
から 6 2023 まで 6 2024