Fisher Communications, other CEOs, take notice

A corporate event passed almost unnoticed in Seattle last week. Shareholders of a public company bit back at a plan for executive compensation.

The company is Fisher Communications, the owner of KOMO-TV, KVI-AM and other broadcast properties in the Pacific Northwest.

When Fisher's board proposed the creation of 1 million new shares to fund the incentive stock program, two East Coast investors owning 27 percent of the shares objected.

Fisher directors cut the request to 300,000 shares, which went to a vote at the annual meeting on Wednesday. Shareholders approved the 300,000 new shares, but only just: Holders of 48 percent of the shares voted no.

That wouldn't have happened 20 years ago. Then, public shareholders were entirely docile.

Not any more. They begin to exercise their rights as owners — and what happens at one company may happen at another.