NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Say®, a technology company powering connections between shareholders and the companies they own, today announced the launch of a new direct communications platform connecting verified shareholders with the companies they own. The platform will be used first in connection with Tesla, Inc.’s Q4 2018 earnings call, scheduled for January 30, 2019, and will allow any Tesla shareholder to submit and vote on questions that they would like to have answered by Tesla on the call. Shareholders should go to https://say.com/earnings/tesla/ to participate.
Until today, lack of technology made such engagement cumbersome and prohibitively expensive for companies and the millions of shareholders who had no way to effectively communicate with them. Retail shareholders have typically used mail, email, and Twitter to contact companies and their investor relations departments, but the companies have had no way to verify who was a shareholder. Such engagement also cannot take place through the current shareholder proxy voting system.
“We’re building the rails of a direct communications framework between companies and shareholders that can be used for many different applications, most of which we haven't even imagined yet,” said Alexander Lebow, Co-Founder of Say. “It’s a simple concept--companies and their shareholders directly communicating with each other--but the reality today is that most of these interactions take place through the proxy system and its web of intermediaries, high costs, and poor customer experiences.”
Special access to Say’s shareholder engagement tools will be offered to broker-dealers who partner with Say through its suite of APIs. Say also provides proxy processing and regulated investor communications services for broker-dealers. “It’s natural that brokers who use our regulated communications product will find value in this offering as well,” said Julio Fredes, Co-Founder of Say. “The focus is on increased customer engagement, better technology, and lower costs to the system.”
Tesla has a special history engaging retail investors on earnings calls. In May 2018, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took questions from YouTube influencer and Tesla shareholder Galileo Russell on an earnings call. “Tesla is the perfect place for Say to start with this product because the retail shareholders follow the company, they know the company, and they deserve a voice,” said Russell.
For more information please visit www.say.com.
About Say®
Say aims to power connections between shareholders and their investments by partnering with the world’s most innovative companies and financial institutions. For broker-dealers and custodians, Say transforms shareholder communication from a compliance function into a customer acquisition and engagement opportunity. For public companies and their shareholders, Say enables direct communications outside the traditional framework, giving companies unprecedented, low-cost access to their shareholders and providing shareholders with new ownership experiences.