Duke and Walton least popular board members

Former Walmart president and CEO Mike Duke and company chairman Rob Walton drew large numbers negative votes when they stood for re-election to the retailer’s board at the annual shareholders’ meeting on Friday, June 6.

Duke, who stepped down as CEO earlier this year, drew the largest number of negative votes with 13.19% of the shares present or represented by proxy at the meeting voting against him. Long time company chairman Walton wasn’t far behind with 11.4% of the shares voted against him. The next closest director to those levels of opposition was Aida Alvarez. She drew a negative vote from 7.51% of the shares represented at the meeting while opposition to other directors was in the low single digits.

The percentage of share voted against Duke and Walton may not seem significant, but the fact that the Walton Family owns 51% of the company’s share tends to distort the actual level of opposition.