Virginia Rometty, leading her first annual shareholders meeting as chief executive officer at IBM (NYSE: IBM), was thrown a curve ball by the first shareholder pitching a question.
“I’m certainly very happy about our CEO and be anxious to know if she’s a member of Augusta?” the unidentified male shareholder asked at the meeting in North Charleston, S.C., Bloomberg news reported.
“No response is required,” he added.
He received no response as the room filled with laughter.
Chairman Sam Palmisano, who was replaced by Rometty as CEO on Jan. 1, intervened.
He thanked the shareholder for the “very kind comment.”
“We were all curious as to when that would come up,” Palmisano said. “But thank you again. Can I have another question please?”
The Augusta National is the site of The Masters golf tournament, and IBM’s CEO is traditionally made a member since Big Blue is one of the event’s top sponsors. But Rometty is a woman and Augusta National is an all men’s club.
Augusta National officials have remained mum about whether she was extended a membership.
Rometty did attend the event and was photographed in the crowd.
In other news from the meeting, The Charleston Post and Courier reported tha Rometty talked positively about IBM and its future with emphasis on the supercomputer – and Jeopardy! champion – Watson.
“Watson embodies a system that can learn over time,” she said.
Palmisano “handled some of the thornier questions, rejecting the idea of a stock split and offering no answer when asked about a cost-of-living increase for retirees,” the newspaper added.
IBM did announce an increase in its dividend and a multi-billion dollar stock buyback plan. Read details here.
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