Solana treasury firm SkyAI keeps board after shareholder protest, loses equity plan vote

All five directors of Solana treasury company SkyAI kept their seats at its annual meeting despite an opposition campaign by Forward Industries and Bastion Trading.

The directors each saw between 18.4 million and 20.7 million withheld votes, compared with 6.9 million to 9.2 million votes in support, according to a Thursday SEC filing. But due to a plurality voting rule, the withheld votes did not count against a nominee, letting each of the five directors retain their respective seats.

This was an outcome that Forward previously acknowledged would be likely when it urged shareholders to withhold their votes.

However, shareholders did reject SkyAI's proposed 2026 equity incentive plan by a wide margin, with 22.5 million votes against and 5 million in favor. The plan would have authorized 5 million shares for stock-based compensation on top of shares still available under the company's existing plan.

Forward, which is currently the largest Solana (SOL) treasury company by a wide margin, has been seeking to acquire SkyAI since mid-June. Forward submitted an updated purchase proposal on Sept. 15 after SkyAI rejected the first offer. The offer values each SkyAI share (SKYA) at the equivalent of 0.306 Forward shares (FWDI).

SkyAI has not yet publicly announced a decision on the second offer, which Forward requested a response to by 5 p.m. ET on Friday.

SkyAI shares were up 4.4% on the day but down 15.8% this year, while Forward shares were up 2.5% on the day and around 23% year-to-date.