‘Overboarding’: why it has become a hot issue for companies

ONE of Silicon Valley’s biggest names in venture capital learned the hard way last year the limit of investor acceptance over how thinly company directors can stretch their time.

In May, the majority of Twitter shareholders decided Silver Lake’s chief executive Egon Durban, who made bets on companies such as Alibaba and Airbnb, was juggling too many directorships on top of the day job and voted against his reappointment.

It was a sign of how “overboarding”, as it is put in corporate governance speak, is a growing issue for companies. But how many board seats are too many? The answer depends on who you ask.