Amazon.com Inc. said it would make it easier for longtime shareholders to nominate a director to its board, making it one of a growing list of companies offering such so-called proxy access.

The Seattle retailer said in a securities filing Thursday that it amended its bylaws to allow a shareholder, or group of as many as 20 shareholders, holding at least 3% of its shares continuously for three years to include board member nominees in the annual proxy statement.

The new bylaw permits shareholders to nominate up to 20% of Amazon's directors. With 11 directors today, that means shareholders could nominate as many as two directors.

Amazon said in the filing that it instituted the change even though such a measure failed at the company's 2015 annual meeting. Amazon subsequently "engaged in discussions regarding proxy access with a number of its largest shareholders."

A spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing.

Proxy access gives stakeholders more potential power to influence strategy and oust sitting directors by letting them offer alternative candidates on corporate ballots.

According to proxy-advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, 26%, or 129, of the companies in the S&P 500 index had adopted proxy access measures​ as of December. That figure stood at 10% in October.

Other prominent companies to adopt proxy access include Apple Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., McDonald's Corp. and Coca-Cola Co.

Amazon earlier this month named Corning Inc. Chief Executive Wendell Weeks to its board.

Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2016 18:45 ET (23:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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