In this article XOM Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods speaks during the APEC CEO Summit at Moscone West on November 15, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Exxon Mobil 's monthslong battle with two environmentally focused activist investors has cost the company the support of the California Public Employees' Retirement System . CalPERS, a $484 billion pension fund manager, said in an open letter Monday it would vote in opposition to all of Exxon's 12 director nominees and its CEO, Darren Woods , at the shareholder meeting next week as a result of the company's potentially "devastating" effort to quash the two activists, Arjuna Capital and Follow This.
CalPERS has a $1 billion stake in Exxon. The two activists submitted a shareholder proposal that would have forced the company to reduce direct emissions and set a target for lowering emissions at suppliers and customers. Exxon sued the investors in Texas federal court in January, prompting them to withdraw the proposal .
Even with the activists backing off, Exxon has continued its lawsuit to prevent the activists from ever again submitting such a proposal. CalPERS said in its letter that Exxon's "reckless" lawsuit threatened shareholder activism efforts on any issue. "If ExxonMobil succeeds in silencing voices and upending the rules of shareholder democracy, what other subjects will the leaders of any company make off limits?" CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost and b.
