Apple adopts majority voting on board members
updated 03:15 pm EST, Thu February 23, 2012
Company bows to shareholder pressure
Apple has agreed to adopt majority voting on the board of directors at today's annual shareholders meeting, reports say. Shareholders actually voted in favor of the measure last year, but at the time, the company chose to ignore the outcome. This year's reversal is said to stem from pressure by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the US' biggest public pension fund. The renewed measure was also sponsored by CalPERS.
Apple initially opposed it, but conceded before a vote could take place, which was again expected to pass. Under the terms of new rules any Apple board member who doesn't get majority shareholder support must resign. The change will take effect at next year's shareholders meeting.
Within the last two years Calpers has reportedly pushed 77 US companies into adopting majority voting, and is working on another 17 companies. It owns 0.26 percent of Apple, worth roughly $1.4 billion. "It’s vitally important that a company the size and importance of Apple is not lagging behind on governance," says the fund's head of corporate governance, Anne Simpson. "A high standard of governance will underpin their future success."
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2006
Evidence?
There is no evidence that Apple governance is improved with this rule. Its past governance seems to demonstrate great success. So Apple adopting what a majority of its stockholders want makes sense, but that this is critical to Apple's future success is entirely speculative.