Tomorrow is the date of Apple's annual shareholder meeting, and this year the company is considering five shareholder proposals – and recommending voting against all of them .
The company went so far as to try to expel one of them, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled that it must be put to a vote…
Apple Annual Shareholder Meeting
As a public company, Apple is required by law to hold an annual meeting at which shareholders can vote on issues such as the appointment or reappointment of the board of directors and executive compensation. This year's board vote will include the nomination of Dr. Wanda Austin.
But in addition to management proposals, shareholders also have the opportunity to put forward proposals of their own.
The company has the right to try to block these proposals, which Apple has done several times in the past. For example, he may claim that he is already working on the issue raised and is therefore redundant. Apple tried to do this back in 2021, attempting to eliminate three different proposals, including one regarding steps taken to protect against the unintentional use of forced labor in the company's supply chain.
Five shareholder proposals
Including management's three proposals, shareholder proposals are numbered 4 to 8, inclusive.
4: Employment Protection for Opinions Different from Apple Policy
This states that Apple does not promise not to discriminate against candidates and employees on the basis of “point of view” and “ideology.” The proposal expresses concern that those with conservative views are at a disadvantage.
Apple responds by saying it is committed to “a culture in which every great idea can be heard and where everyone belongs, including people with different viewpoints and ideologies.” It says the company's existing policies and practices already address this issue.
5: Report on company removal of religious apps in China
Another proposal calls for a report on company removal of religious apps from the Chinese app store and threats to remove social network X.
Apple says it already provides transparency on this issue and must comply with the laws of each jurisdiction in which it operates.
6: Unadjusted Women and Minority Pay Gap Report
Apple currently reports weighted pay gaps between men and women and between minorities and non-minorities. This report takes into account factors such as time spent away from the workplace on things like childcare. The proposal calls for Apple to also report unadjusted pay gaps to make “structural bias” in pay differences visible.
The company responds that it believes its own reporting provides “more meaningful” data, and that Apple has achieved gender pay equality worldwide by 2017 and full pay equality “at the intersection of gender, race and ethnicity.” in the US by 2022.
7 : Prepare a transparency report on Apple's use of AI
The proposal asks Apple to disclose information about its use. AI, as well as any ethical principles it has adopted to govern such use.
Apple has asked the SEC for permission to strike the proposal on the grounds that it risks revealing commercially sensitive information about the company's plans. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied this, and now the company is asking shareholders to vote against it for the same reason.
8: Human Rights Policy Report
Best Comment by Carol Danvers
At every shareholder meeting, these proposals come from groups that have their own interests. Some even buy AAPL just to make offers. And these proposals are always rejected by the majority. I can't think of any shareholder proposals like these five that have been passed in the last decade. Most people know what these offers are about, and their value does not increase.
So here's the bottom line. If you don't like Apple's policies, don't buy the stock. If users are outraged that Apple has removed or changed a feature, declaring Apple hardware to be garbage, claiming that Apple's QA doesn't exist, they should leave the platform for something they think is better.
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The proposal points to Apple's “inconsistent” application of stated values when it comes to complying with legal requirements in China to remove apps and adopt other policies such as introducing a timeout for AirDrop. He calls on the company to publish a report on the matter.
Apple says it is already doing so.
Virtual shareholders' meeting
The meeting is held online. Shareholders were to be assigned a “control number” allowing them to enter the meeting, ask questions and vote.
Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash
