Pitney Bowes ‘strongly disagrees with ISS’ voting recommendation’

Pitney Bowes issued the following statement in response to proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services’ recommendation in connection with the Company’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 9 : We strongly disagree with ISS’ voting recommendation, which we believe would result in an extreme and destabilizing level of change at Pitney Bowes. Nevertheless, we are pleased that ISS recognized in its report the decisive strategic actions taken by the Pitney Bowes Board and management team over the past decade. ISS wrote1: "…it is clear that PBI has in fact undergone significant transformation over the past decade…the leadership team should be given credit for attempting to refocus." PBI trimmed and refocused legacy operations as part of the process, and it is not clear that the dissident’s view on the correct strategy for Presort and SendTech is more compelling than that of incumbent leadership." Furthermore, ISS commended the Board’s corporate governance, including its Board refreshment program, saying2: There are few major controversies with the headline corporate governance structure." "…the board deserves credit for maintaining a regular refreshment program since 2015…" "The board implicitly recognized the need for change when it announced refreshment initiatives in March…" Over the past decade, Pitney Bowes has undergone a significant amount of transformation to our business as well as our Board, and we do not believe that shareholders would be well served by following ISS’