On May 2, 2023, WisdomTree, Inc. (WisdomTree) issued a press release
announcing that it has filed its definitive proxy statement and sent a letter to its stockholders regarding WisdomTrees 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. A copy of the press release and the letter are set forth below.
WisdomTree Sends Letter to Stockholders
Files Definitive Proxy Statement for 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders
Urges Stockholders to Vote FOR ALL SIX WisdomTree Nominees on WHITE Proxy Card
NEW YORK, May 2, 2023 WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE: WT) (WisdomTree or the Company), a global financial innovator, today issued
a letter to its stockholders regarding WisdomTrees 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (2023 Annual Meeting), which is scheduled to be held on June 16, 2023.
At the 2023 Annual Meeting, WisdomTree stockholders will have the opportunity to protect their investment in the Company by choosing to elect the following
six highly qualified nominees to the Companys Board: Lynn S. Blake, Daniela Mielke, Shamla Naidoo, Win Neuger, Frank Salerno and Jonathan Steinberg. Each of these nominees possesses significant and extensive experience relevant to
WisdomTrees business strategy, including global financial, accounting, compliance, technology and digital expertise, and many years in senior leadership positions in the investment management and financial services industries. WisdomTree urges
its stockholders to vote FOR ALL SIX of WisdomTrees nominees on the WHITE proxy card TODAY.
A dissident
stockholder, ETFS Capital Limited (ETFS Capital), is seeking to elect three representatives to the WisdomTree Board, including the chairman of ETFS Capital, Graham Tuckwell, who has been pursuing a multi-year crusade against WisdomTree
driven purely by his personal agenda and ego, rather than by any consideration of what is best for the Company and its stockholders.
In the
Companys letter, Frank Salerno, Independent Chair of the WisdomTree Board, reviews the proven success of the Companys growth strategy and its important investments in future initiatives including digital assets and blockchain-enabled
finance. Following a thorough, independent review conducted by the Operations and Strategy Committee of the Board that included two directors proposed by ETFS Capital last year, the Board voted unanimously to endorse that WisdomTrees current
strategy is the right path forward for stockholder value creation and that the Company has the appropriate management team to execute on this strategy.
Mr. Salerno said, It is difficult to understand how Mr. Tuckwell can find issues with WisdomTrees strategy and management when his own
2022 directors, after a forensic review, endorsed them both.
The letter also provides detail regarding the Boards consistent commitment to
stockholder engagement, board refreshment and corporate governance, and its good faith efforts to avoid Mr. Tuckwells personally motivated, unnecessary and unwarranted proxy contest. As detailed in the letter, Mr. Tuckwell lacks the
temperament and public company board experience to enhance the WisdomTree Board, and his other nominees would not add any skills or competencies to the Board that the current Board members collectively do not already possess. Furthermore, the Board
has already undergone significant refreshment having added five new directors since January 2021, all of them female and/or diverse, and these new directors constitute a majority of the Board.
Mr. Salerno added, Given WisdomTrees strong operating and financial results and strong stock price performance, we view
Mr. Tuckwells demands for Board changes as unjustified and unwarranted for our stockholders. There is no case for change at WisdomTree, and even if there were, Mr. Tuckwell and his nominees would be the wrong people to effect that
change.
Additional Information
WisdomTree has
filed its definitive proxy materials on Schedule 14A with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with WisdomTrees 2023 Annual Meeting. The Company is sending its definitive proxy statement and stockholder letter
to all stockholders entitled to vote as of the record date, April 27, 2023, along with the Companys WHITE proxy card or voting instruction form.
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