Shareholders vote to re-elect Apple board
updated 03:35 pm EST, Wed February 25, 2009
Apple board re-elected
Choosing at an annual meeting, Apple shareholders have voted to re-elect all members of the company's current board of directors. These include Al Gore, Intuit CEO Bill Campbell, J. Crew CEO Millard Drexler, Avon CEO Andrea Jung, Genentech head Arthur Levinson, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Harwinton Capital leader Jerome York. Most critical may be the re-election of Apple's own CEO, Steve Jobs, who together with the rest of the board will serve for at least one more year.
Despite its importance Jobs was absent from the meeting, in keeping with a medical leave set to last through June. The leave presents an unusual complication for the board, as one of its key members may be unavailable for half of the upcoming term. The vote is believed to represent a sign of confidence in Apple as well as Jobs however, which has been accused of having no backup plan in case its figurehead dies or is forced to retire.
Four shareholder proposals were additionally defeated at the meeting, including a Teamsters suggestion that the company should produce two reports each year listing the company's direct and indirect political expenditures. Apple directors have called the proposal "unnecessary and unproductive," while also admitting that it would expose private negotiations with trade associations to its rivals.
Likewise defeated was an AFL-CIO proposal calling for healthcare reform principles adopted from the Institute of Medicine, and another measure sponsored by groups including the New York City Office of the Comptroller, asking for more detailed reports on safety and sustainability issues, including global warming. The former was deflected as a matter for the US government, while the latter is said to already be provided on the Apple website.
The last measure to be defeated was one from the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan, calling for a shareholders' advisory vote on executive pay. The board of directors has held to the position that pay is its own prerogative, and that controls on executive salaries could affect the ability to recruit new blood.
oh good
02/25, 04:27pm reply
Another year of Bill "We swear, a new version of Quicken is coming soon, this one even less capable than the one you are using, and nowhere near as capable as the Windows Version" Campbell.
Gotta love a board that includes people who have absolutely no desire to help the company.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
disagree with you testudo
02/25, 04:45pm reply
The only way to reach Campbell is to stop using his products... I myself am looking around for alternatives. I do question why HE is on the board at all.
The shareholder's meeting on the other hand sounds like the usual bunch of bozos who have nothing else to do but fixate on problems which have little to do with Apple. Let's make a suggestion... take out your money and put it into something else. Yes, we can survive and will happily be fine without you. And maybe the meeting would end sooner too. These complaints get raised by professional wannabes who add nothing to the conversation.
Bobfozz
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2008
Yay!
02/25, 04:58pm reply
Al Gore's not too busy running his paranoiac junk-science death cult to be on Apple's board!
Monstermind
Junior Member
Joined: May 2000
Al Gore, Bill Campbell ..
02/25, 06:39pm reply
... Eric Schmidt, all these "controversial" figures on Apple's board ...
... funny how the company's never done so well in its entire history, isn't it?
chas_m
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
re: oh good
02/25, 06:42pm reply
I voted against about half the board. Quickbooks is my most hated software, I think... ever
JackWebb
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
re: controversial
02/25, 06:46pm reply
I don't know what this board does. Starting in 1997 I think this board has been taking directions from Jobs starting with the firing Gil Amelio. Seems like a puppet board to me with Jobs the puppet master.
JackWebb
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
Voted AGAINST All Of Em
02/25, 07:22pm reply
I voted against EVERYONE, and I included a special note requesting that the thumbs of the Mac Mini manager be cut off with a pair of rusty garden pliers.
(hahaa funny... one of the captcha words is disposed. Exactly what I think of the Mac Mini manager)
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
Response
02/25, 08:09pm reply
"Al Gore's not too busy running his paranoiac junk-science death cult to be on Apple's board!"
1/ this isn't the place for politics
2/ over 99% of environmental scientists agree that global climate change is real, and our activities directly influence it.
Do some research.
dimmer
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2006
not CEO anymore
02/26, 12:16am reply
Just a slight correction... Campbell is no longer Intuit's CEO, although he remains on the board.
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
junk science
02/26, 12:33pm reply
so, beck tell you that? limbaugh? hannity?
you got a thought there somewhere that's not simply regurgitating what you've been told?
nat
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2002