(Bloomberg) -- Basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal is cleared for a second season on the board of Papa John's International Inc. after a major investor advisory firm reversed a recommendation to bench him.
Institutional Shareholder Services said Thursday that O'Neal, the four-time National Basketball Association champion, shouldn't be re-elected because he attended less than 75% of the pizza company's board and committee meetings during his rookie year as director. The company has defended O'Neal's attendance, saying it was caused by conflicts that existed before his March 2019 appointment.
“Given that O'Neal's poor attendance occurred during the year he was appointed to the board, support for O'Neal's re-election is now considered warranted,” ISS said in the revised report on Tuesday. No other recommendations were changed.
See earlier story: Shaq Criticized for Skipping Too Many Papa John's Board Meetings
Papa John's announced a year ago that the NBA hall-of-fame center, sportscaster and restaurateur was joining the board as part of a broader plan to rejuvenate the pizza chain's image. The company said O'Neal would invest in nine restaurants in the Atlanta area and become a “brand ambassador.” O'Neal was slated to get about $8.25 million over three years for the endorsement agreement, Papa John's said at the time.
O'Neal was unable to attend several board meetings because of business and broadcasting commitments that couldn't be rescheduled, the company said in a proxy filing ahead of the April 23 annual meeting. The scheduling conflicts are not expected to recur in 2020, Papa John's said in the filing. O'Neal worked last year as a sports analyst on the TNT network show “Inside the NBA,” among other roles.
Jeff Smith, chairman of the board, wrote in a letter to shareholders Monday that O'Neal has made "important contributions to Papa John's" and that "he is expected to continue to help Papa John's improve its culture and engagement with its customers and communities."
Papa John's is fighting its way back from a scandal involving founder and former chief executive John Schnatter, which hurt sales and damaged the company's reputation. Schnatter resigned from the board in early March 2019, after using a racial slur on a conference call the previous year.
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