SkyAI's five directors survived a shareholder vote at the annual meeting Thursday despite each receiving far more withheld votes than supporting votes. According to the company's SEC filing, support ranged from 6.9 million to 9.2 million votes, while withheld votes reached 18.4 million to 20.7 million. The board stayed intact because SkyAI uses plurality voting, meaning withheld votes do not count against nominees. Forward Industries and Bastion Trading had urged shareholders to withhold support as part of a governance challenge, but the voting mechanics prevented the protest from changing the board's composition.
Shareholders were more decisive on compensation. The proposed 2026 Equity Incentive Plan was rejected by roughly 22.5 million votes against versus about 5 million in favor, with 51,479 abstentions. The plan would have authorized 5 million new shares plus 145,000 remaining under the prior program, potentially up to 5.145 million shares for equity awards. The rejection limits management's ability to issue new stock-based awards under that framework and highlights investor concerns about dilution.
The outcome leaves the same board in control as Forward Industries continues its takeover pursuit. Forward submitted a revised all-stock bid on September 15 valuing each SkyAI share at 0.306 Forward shares and asked for a response by 5 p.m. ET on Friday. SkyAI has not publicly responded. The company operates a Solana-focused treasury strategy and is developing an agentic finance platform, while Forward remains the largest Solana treasury company. Broader Solana market context also remains active: Solana ETF inflows reached $1.47 billion, SOL traded near $117 after a weekly gain, and the network's Alpenglow upgrade moved toward public testnet testing with an aim of faster transaction finality.
After Thursday's meeting, SkyAI shares rose 4.4% but remain down 15.8% in 2026, while Forward shares gained 2.5% and were up about 23% for the year. Shareholders also ratified PKF O'Connor Davies LLP as independent auditor and rejected a proposal to adjourn the meeting if additional proxies were needed. The mixed result preserves leadership but leaves the acquisition question unanswered.
