“Three failed shareholder proposals regarding executive compensation and options backdating at Apple won widespread support, according to a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Daniel Del’Re reports for TheStreet.com.
“While none of the proposals won a majority of votes at the company’s shareholder meeting in May, the strong showing underscores that investors’ concerns about how — and how much — executives are paid at the high-flying icon of the tech sector,” Del’Re reports.
“Over 41% of shareholders voted in favor of a proposal from the Amalgamated Bank LongView Collective to explicitly ban backdating of stock option grants. This was just shy of the 46% that voted against the measure. About 13% of shareholders abstained,” Del’Re reports.
“A second proposal, submitted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, would have created a tighter link between executive compensation and the company’s stock performance relative to its peers’ stocks. The measure won 38% support with only about 1% of shareholders abstaining, making it a clearer victory for management,” Del’Re reports.
“The third proposal, submitted by the AFL-CIO, would have given shareholders a nonbinding vote on executive pay packages at Apple’s annual meeting. The measure won more than 41% of the vote, with 47% of shareholders voting against it and 11% abstaining,” Del’Re reports.
“Apple’s management recommended voting against all three measures on grounds that they would inhibit the company’s ability to recruit and retain talented executives and engineers,” Del’Re reports. “Critics of the type of proposals that Apple faced amounted to shareholder attempts to micro-manage executives and boards.”
Full article here.
