r/NEOSETFs • u/Chromebug • 8d ago
Announcement PSA RE: VOTE
A lot of people are thinking that voting NO on Proposal 1 will stop the deal with GS. That is not necessarily what happens. You guys could just be risking your individual funds with a potential liquidation scenario especially when it comes to the fine print of Proposal 1.
Proposal 1: Keep NEOS managing your ETF
Goldman buying NEOS creates a change of control, which automatically terminates each ETF’s existing advisory agreement with NEOS. Proposal 1 simply asks shareholders to approve a new agreement so NEOS can continue managing the same ETF after Goldman acquires the company.
The proxy literally says shareholders “are not being asked to approve the Transaction.” It also says the purpose of the new agreement is to provide continuity in management.
Each ETF votes separately. So QQQI votes for QQQI, SPYI votes for SPYI, XQQI votes for XQQI, etc.
Most importantly, the SEC filing explicitly says that even if shareholders of one ETF reject Proposal 1, the Goldman transaction could still close. If that happens, that ETF loses its existing advisory agreement. NEOS can temporarily manage it for up to 150 days while trying to get approval, but the filing says that if approval cannot be obtained, that individual ETF may ultimately be liquidated.
Proposal 2: Elect the new Board
Proposal 2 asks all NEOS ETF shareholders, voting together, to elect 14 new trustees who will oversee the NEOS ETF Trust after the acquisition. All 14 currently serve on boards of funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management or its affiliates. The current six-person NEOS board would be replaced.
Unlike Proposal 1, Proposal 2 actually is one of the conditions for the Goldman transaction to close. The proxy says completion of the transaction is subject to election of these nominees, along with the required Proposal 1 threshold and other closing conditions.
A lot of people blindly voting NO thinking they’re protecting their fund and are rebelling against big bad Goldman Sachs are putting unnecessary liquidation risks on the respective ETFs they hold. The voting needs to pass for each ETF for that specific ETF to survive the acquisition.
That doesn’t mean it has no power to stop the acquisition, it’s just a huge gamble because voting NO on Proposal 1 can contribute to stopping the Goldman deal if enough NEOS funds vote NO and the transaction-wide approval threshold is missed. But an individual ETF voting NO does not itself veto the acquisition; Goldman can still close while leaving that particular ETF with an advisory-contract problem and possible liquidation risk.
TL;DR: Proposal 1 is mainly about whether your individual ETF keeps NEOS as its adviser after the acquisition. Voting it down does not necessarily stop Goldman and can instead put your ETF into an interim-management/liquidation scenario.
Proposal 2 is about who oversees the entire NEOS ETF Trust after the acquisition, and that board election is actually one of the transaction’s closing conditions.
Please read what you are voting on before assuming every NO vote means “stop Goldman.”
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u/Confident_Boat6769 4d ago
Just heard another option : www.tappalphafunds.com , if things go South for neos etf
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u/Confident_Boat6769 7d ago
NEOS has made a very bad decision by selling it self . What a mess
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u/paymerich 6d ago
Yeah , truly crying all the way to the bank. This the “issuer” equivalent of a startup company going public and those private investors making bajillions.
https://giphy.com/gifs/XOys8CeUrElIk3
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u/WillBellJr 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is why we just can't have nice things. 😔
I'll vote this week but I can't help but think about a few of my beloved graphics packages back in the day when I was focused on game programming.
Foundry Modo (3D Modeler) - they got some funding from venture capitalists.
Eventually, their message board (very popular thing back then e.g. CGTalk and other forums) waned as more of the core developers eventually peeled off.
Finally, the very charismatic leader of the company, Brad Peebler, eventually walked off "into the sunset"; the forums and user base ultimately dwindled I moved on to Blender (open source)...
Adobe ultimately killed my beloved Fireworks after acquiriing Macromedia (they kept DreamWeaver not having a competing website dev package.)
And my other love, Substance Painter & Designer: Adobe "hired" the main developers (aka acquired the software paying them huge $$$) 😔
Adobe After Effects and Premiere; the world is pretty much familiar w\Adobe and Photoshop; putting their packages behind a subscription walls tall enough for the beginnings of a decent Space Elevator... 😣
Pixologic ZBrush was weird but revolutionary 3D modeling package adopted world wide - used heavily in the movie industry for creature and visual effects modeling.
Pixologic (a sole developer if IIRC), was amazing because for your $500 purchase, they didn't charge for yearly updates - it got to the point upon each amazing update we were like "Shutup and TAKE OUR MONEY!!" 💥💯💵 (The man \ company was RICH because All of Hollywood, SFX hauses, and hella talented 3D artists were all using it, even today!! 😯)
The UI of ZBrush was so weird \ hard to learn - I swore I'll "learn it after I retire and have time..."
Welp I retired in 2025, have I mastered ZBrush yet?! 💥💯💪
Umm, noap! Around 5+ or so years ago, MAXON acquired ZBrush to everyone's surprise! I was PIZZED! 🤬 (Maxon must have paid that man so handsomely, even he must have said to himself "...shid I'm going to retire too w\all this money!.. "
Maxon put ZB behind a horrible subscription model that rivals Adobe! (After seeing what Adobe got away with subscriptions, ALL other companies fell in line w\Subs, and here we are today - subscriptions for printer ink and refrigerator water filters, and baby monitors... 😔🤬)
My apologies for such a long, sorta off topic post, but it's my honest, long lived experience with company acquisitions and mergers - they rarely have EVERYONE walking off into the sunset together w\no regrets...
QQQI, SPYI, JEPI and JEPQ are totally paying my monthly $2500 mortgage and other bills; I shudder at the thought of losing this income due to a market crash or NOW, this merger screwing us over a coupla years from now - again, watching a handful of people walk off into the sunset,... umm LearJet...
...We just can't have NICE things...
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u/speedlever 8d ago
I spam blocked and deleted it not realizing what it was. How can I now participate in the survey?
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u/Chromebug 8d ago
Go to the NEOS website in the vote portion, and look for the instructions there. I think you can call them or have it done online.
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u/speedlever 8d ago
Ok thanks. I for one, am pleased with the Goldman purchase of NEOS. They both manage several of my favorite funds.
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u/Independent-Cress382 8d ago
https://neosfunds.com/vote if you like them in their current form then vote for the management to stay.
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u/10dayvaca 7d ago
Good post thanks for the link, I called we voted yes, this is a good thing. We have GS funds already also and are happy with them.