Tuesday, May 25, 2010

LiveBlogging, Today Tomorrow -- Stockholders' Meeting @ 1 PM EDT


I'll liveblog the webcast of the public remarks portion of tomorrow's stockholders' meeting. Click this link to watch, and/or listen in:


▲ All proposals were approved; meeting adjourned.

▲ No current plan to increase the dividend.

▲ General Q&A -- "What will be the impact of a loss of Remicade arbitration?" CEO Clark takes a no comment.

▲ "What is board doing to help stock price?" CEO Clark says pharma and economy are both down, but he expects the pipeline will be the answer.

▲ "What impact will the euro exposures have over next three quarters?" Diversification is Clark's non-answer. Really no answer.

▲ The auditors's approval, and the stock compensation plan proposals moved and seconded -- now polls are closed.

▲ "Why is Pat Russo on board -- she did nothing for Lucent?" CEO Clark rebuts this, saying he thinks she adds value on Merck's board, and the rest of the board believes so as well.

▲ "Are any Merck directors board members of other pharma?" No says CEO Clark.

▲ Directors nominated, and seconded.

▲ Quorum present -- inspectors of election appointed; polls open -- resolutions presented; 3 min max on questions.

▲ Pipeline review with Peter Kim -- nothing new.

▲ Mentions the expanded HIV medicine subsidies here in the US. That's a good thing -- fixed prices for people of limited means through 2013.

▲ Listing the strengths of the business lines. . . nothing new.

▲ Explaining Ken Frazier's new role -- and Adam Schecter's as well.

▲ Director Thomas H. Glocer (Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Reuters Corporation) misses the meeting. Odd.

▲ Business portion of meeting now underway. Introductions of PWC, the auditors, and the board.

▲ Video on Merck's rotavirus vaccines delivery program, in Latin America, now. . . .

▲ Dick Clark approaches the stage, with other Merck officers -- welcoming the shareholders now.

▲ We're underway -- Merck is showing its pre-meeting institutional commercials on the big screen.

▲ The information contained in the [Merck] presentation [is]. . . current as of May 25, 2010. While the presentation remains on the company’s website the company assumes no duty to update the information to reflect subsequent developments. Consequently, the company will not update the information contained in the presentation and investors should not rely upon the information as current or accurate after May 25, 2010. . . .

Check back then, but Merck has two more "Dog & Pony shows" scheduled, with Wall Street sponsorships, later this week.





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for the doing this RK.

So far, not surprised at conservative behavior.

Tough environment now/near future

Ghetto

Condor said...

My pleasure -- headed west.

Namaste