NEW YORK, Jan 30, 2026, 11:01 (EST) — Regular session has kicked off.
- Plug Power shares slipped about 2% in early trading after the company pushed back a key shareholder vote to Feb. 5
- The company is moving ahead with plans to alter authorized shares, consider a stock sale, and implement a reverse stock split
- Investors are watching closely to see if Plug can secure enough votes to approve its charter amendments
Shares of Plug Power slipped on Friday after the company postponed a shareholder vote on charter changes tied to issuing more stock. By 10:46 a.m. ET, the stock traded around $2.30, down 1.9% from Thursday’s close at $2.34.
With shares lingering in the low single digits, Plug is pushing for investor approval to reshape its capital structure. Management stresses that these changes are essential to preserve “financial flexibility” and meet looming obligations.
At the heart of this lies “authorized shares” — the maximum number of shares a company is legally allowed to issue. Raising that ceiling paves the way for fresh stock offerings. On the flip side, a reverse stock split merges existing shares into fewer units, usually pushing up the share price and creating room below the authorized-share cap.
Plug announced late Thursday it has postponed its special meeting to Feb. 5 after Proposals 1 and 2 fell short of winning a majority of outstanding shares. While 92.63% and 89.09% of votes cast supported the proposals, only 36.93% and 46.86% of outstanding shares were represented, the company said. CEO Andy Marsh described Proposal 2 as “very close” and said they will keep pushing to gather more votes. (Plug Power)
In documents tied to the meeting, Plug laid out two main proposals. The first would change its voting rules for certain charter amendments, letting approval come from a majority of votes cast where Delaware law allows—no longer needing a majority of all outstanding shares. The second proposes increasing authorized common stock from 1.5 billion to 3.0 billion shares. If that doesn’t pass, Plug said it would move forward with a reverse stock split. (Plug Power)
On Jan. 29, Marsh addressed dilution worries in a blog post, arguing shareholders face the same outcome either way. He explained the company must “either increase the number of shares or do a reverse stock split” because of contractual obligations. Marsh warned a reverse split might actually hurt the stock. He shared a table showing that even a 1-for-5 reverse split would still leave about 1.2 billion new shares on the table. (Plug Power)
The delay affects a part of the clean-energy sector already burdened by constant capital raises. Reverse splits tend to raise alarms for investors, despite no actual changes in the underlying figures.
On Friday, hydrogen and fuel-cell stocks moved unevenly. Ballard Power Systems dropped about 1.4%, FuelCell Energy fell more steeply, shedding roughly 4.0%, but Bloom Energy gained near 2.1%.
Shareholders are caught on the horns of a dilemma. If the proposals pass, Plug will have more room to issue stock, a move investors usually view as dilution. If they fail, the company has warned it might pursue a reverse split—a tactic that tends to weigh on sentiment and doesn’t solve the core funding challenges.
