In a rare instance of investors defying Apple Board of Directors’ proxy voting recommendations, AAPL shareholders approved an outside proposal requiring audits of the company’s civil-rights impact.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The vote was part of Apple’s annual shareholder meeting, held virtually on Friday for the second year in a row. Investors also reelected the company’s board and approved its executive compensation plan.
The proposal on civil-rights audits is part of a broader push to get corporations to track if, and how, they contribute to racial inequities.
“Now it’s time for Apple to establish an honest third-party civil-rights audit of the company’s commitments to equality and fairness,” Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of the labor-backed firm SOC Investment Group, said in a statement after the meeting.
In opposing the measure, Apple argued that it already meets the objectives of the proposal. That includes conducting impact assessments and engaging with communities. The company described the audit recommended by the proposal as “broad and unfocused.”
“Civil rights is something we care deeply about and always have,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said during the meeting.
MacDailyNews Take: You know, unless we’re talking about China.
Shareholders voted on 10 proposals, including four from Apple and six from outside investors. Investors followed the company’s recommendations on nine of them…
Cook and General Counsel Kate Adams took the form of Memoji images when they spoke at the meeting, relying on the virtual characters that Apple uses for iMessage and other services…
[Cook] vowed to continue increasing the annual dividend, which began in 2012, and said that employees will return to the office by April.
SOC Investment Group, which backed the proposal with the Service Employees International Union and Trillium Management, welcomed the approval and said it would help investors monitor whether Apple’s actions match its public relations.
“We’re going to take the company’s own metrics and say, ‘Okay, how do you live up to your own commitments?'” Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of SOC said. “Does your activity actually move the needle? Or is it just PR?”
Although the proposal is advisory, Waizenegger said, shareholders typically will hold the company’s board to account when something is passed with a majority of shareholder votes.
Apple said that it already meets the objectives of the proposal through its current policies, and a representative declined to comment.
MacDailyNews Note: The vote tallies for each proposal and BoD member are here.
The shareholder proposal entitled “Civil Rights Audit” was approved with 5,125,278,012 votes for vs. 4,445,469,491 votes against with 131,246,493 having abstained.
Apple’s 2022 Proxy Statement which includes the ten items of business and board voting recommendations is here.
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