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Carl Icahn talking at Delivering Alpha in New York on Sept. 13, 2016.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Activist investor Carl Icahn misplaced his proxy struggle with McDonald’s on Thursday, signaling that shareholders weren’t swayed by his animal-welfare considerations.
Preliminary counts of votes in the course of the firm’s annual shareholder assembly confirmed that Icahn’s board nominees solely obtained votes from about 1% of excellent shares, McDonald’s stated.
“Shifting ahead, McDonald’s Board and Management Crew stay centered on persevering with to take actions that uphold and advance our values whereas committing to serve the pursuits of all our shareholders,” the corporate stated in a press release.
Icahn solely owns about 200 McDonald’s shares, a tiny stake that did not give him a lot affect over votes. And, because the outcomes present, he didn’t win over his fellow shareholders together with his criticism of McDonald’s environmental, social and company governance commitments and calling out massive Wall Road corporations for “hypocrisy.”
McDonald’s chairman Enrique Hernandez, Jr., stated in ready remarks obtained by CNBC that Icahn was invited to talk about his nominations on the assembly however he withdrew two days in the past. Icahn didn’t attend the assembly.
A consultant for Icahn declined to remark to CNBC.
Icahn’s proxy struggle kicked off in February when the billionaire publicly criticized McDonald’s for failing to satisfy its unique deadline for eliminating its suppliers’ use of gestation crates for pregnant pigs. He additionally claimed the corporate was imagined to ban the usage of crates solely however has since modified the scope of its dedication.
For its half, the Chicago-based firm has blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever outbreaks for pushing again the unique deadline of 2022 that it set a decade in the past. By the tip of this 12 months, McDonald’s now expects 85% to 90% of its U.S. pork provide to come back from pigs that are not saved in gestation crates in the event that they’re confirmed to be pregnant. McDonald’s has stated that eliminating the usage of the crates solely would increase its prices and better costs for patrons.
McDonald’s stated in a submitting in early April that it anticipated to spend roughly $16 million within the proxy struggle with Icahn.
The Humane Society of america had put forth a shareholder proposal echoing Icahn’s criticisms however withdrew it. The proposal requested the corporate to verify it could attain its prior objective of eliminating the confinement of gestating pigs by 2022. In any other case, the group requested McDonald’s to reveal extra details about its pork provide chain. Such shareholder proposals are nonbinding however can ship a message to company boards about public help for firm practices.
Icahn is waging the same proxy struggle at Kroger, the biggest U.S. grocery store chain operator within the U.S. Kroger’s annual assembly is scheduled for June 23.
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