a contest between factions of stockholders in a company, in which each group attempts to gain control by soliciting signed proxy statements for sufficient votes.
A contest among two or more opposing forces to solicit stockholders' proxies and, in effect, to gain control of the firm through the election of directors. It is usually quite difficult to wrest control from the existing management through a proxy fight, but the tactic has been used, for example, by some suitors in takeover attempts.
