$190 million. That's the cost to T. Rowe Price [profile] mutual fund shareholders of a voting mistake three years ago, and now the Wall Street Journal says that the Baltimore-based, publicly-traded mutual fund shop is figuring out how to make things right with those fund shareholders.

William J. Stromberg T. Rowe Price Chief Executive Officer

Liz Hoffman and Sarah Krouse of the WSJ report that, "as early as next week," T. Rowe "is likely to announce" its reimbursement plan for fund shareholders hurt by its accidental "yes" vote on the 2013 Dell buyout deal. T. Rowe fought against the buyout, even voted against it in an earlier vote, yet mistakenly didn't change its default "yes" vote on M&A to a "no" when the Dell deal came up for a second vote.

That mistake disqualified T. Rowe from suing over the deal, and suits by other Dell shareholders resulted in a judge ruling this week that the buyers (Michael Dell himself, and others) "underpaid by $6 billion." And since T. Rowe challenged the deal in 2013, its mutual funds and their shareholders had to wait two years for full payment under the deal.

"We are in the process of reviewing the opinions and considering our options," a T. Rowe spokesman tells the WSJ. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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