Tegna Shareholders Reelect All 12 Directors

Tegna Inc. said today that, based on a preliminary vote count by its proxy solicitor, shareholders have overwhelmingly re-elected all 12 of Tegna’s highly qualified nominees as directors to serve for another term ending at the 2022 Annual Meeting: Gina Bianchini, Howard Elias, Stuart Epstein, Lidia Fonseca, Karen Grimes, David Lougee, Scott McCune, Henry McGee, Susan Ness, Bruce Nolop, Neal Shapiro and Melinda Witmer.

Tegna’s largest shareholder, Standard General (led by Soo Kim and which has tried to acquire Tegna), had sought to put three people on the board and called for the company to open its books following charges of bias and discrimination, charges that Tegna called “distorted.”

“We are deeply gratified by this clear vote of confidence from our shareholders, and we continue to benefit from the input we received from the many shareholders we engaged with,” said Howard D. Elias, chairman of the board. “Receiving even greater support in this year’s election than last year is a powerful endorsement of the board’s oversight of Tegna’s financial performance, management’s execution of our strategy, and our continued progress in making Tegna even more diverse, equitable and inclusive.”

Dave Lougee, president and CEO, said: “We are pleased that our shareholders recognize the successful execution of our value-creation strategy, which is delivering record results. We value the productive partnership we have with our investors as we drive Tegna forward for the benefit of all stakeholders. Beyond our financial performance, we are pleased that our shareholders support the company’s ongoing work to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. As demonstrated by our extensive actions to date and the quantitative goals we’ve set, we are fully committed to continue improving in these important areas so that Tegna effectively represents all of the communities we serve. I also want to thank our employees for all their efforts and their focus during this time – the work they do has never been more important.”

In addition to re-electing all of Tegna’s directors, shareholders also approved the company’s proposals concerning:

• The appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the current year.
• The advisory vote on the compensation of Tegna’s named executive officers.
• The elimination of the supermajority voting provisions in the company’s charter.