ISS Endorses Company’s Leadership and Strong
Corporate Governance Practices
Firm Emphasizes Company’s Solid Core Business
Performance, Margin Improvement, and Peer-Leading Total Stockholder
Returns
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 Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”), a
leading independent proxy advisory firm, has recommended that
stockholders vote “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 ISS recognizes the value WisdomTree continues
to deliver to its stockholders, much as Glass Lewis did earlier
today. The ISS report notes that WisdomTree’s peer-leading total
stockholder returns are not reflective of dissident stockholder
ETFS Capital’s actions, but rather a direct result of the Company’s
strong operational performance, specifically the strong expansion
in WisdomTree’s gross and adjusted operating margins and the solid
performance of WisdomTree’s core business.”
Regarding WisdomTree’s strong performance and growing digital
assets strategy, ISS wrote in its report:1
- “The company is focused on margin improvement under the
supervision of the reconstituted board, its
core business is performing well, and the company’s
TSR has significantly outperformed that of
its peers over the past three years.”
- “[T]he solid performance of WT’s core
business appears to outweigh any potential concerns investors may
have about the DeFi initiatives, as evidenced by the
company’s TSR outperformance over the past three years.”
- “In 2024, it is more difficult to conclude that the dissident’s
campaign has driven the share price performance, as the
shares…barely moved on Feb. 27, the day that the company disclosed
its ongoing discussions with Tuckwell.”
Regarding WisdomTree’s Board refreshment and corporate
governance practices, ISS wrote in its report:
- “The board has been declassified and refreshed, and all
committees are chaired by directors that have joined within the
last three years.”
- “Critically, the two directors placed on the board by the
dissident have expressed full confidence in the current direction
of the company. As there is no case for
incremental change at this juncture, shareholders are
recommended to vote FOR all management nominees.”
Both ISS and Glass Lewis have made independent assessments and
concluded that there is no case for change at WisdomTree. In line
with both firms’ 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 ISS quotations was neither sought nor
obtained. Emphasis added.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240531231048/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
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