Apple Annual Shareholder Meeting Takes Place Friday Morning

$AAPLApple's annual shareholder meeting will take place on Friday morning at 9:00 AM PST. The meeting will be help at Building 4 of the company's Infinite Loop corporate headquarters, and it will feature a variety of shareholder proposals sponsored by both the company and various shareholders.

Among the proposals are the standard board approval measures and approval of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's external auditor. In addition, Apple's board has proposals that would remove the board's "blank check" authority to issue preferred stock, changes to the way board members would be elected in the future, and a technical accountant-centric change to the way Apple's common stock is considered.

The board is also proposing a non-binding measure regarding shareholder approval of executive compensation. Not surprisingly, the board is recommending that shareholders vote "For" all of the measures that it proposed.

There are four shareholder proposals up for consideration, including a human-rights measure, a politically-motivated proposal by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Carl Icahn-proposed measure from which Mr. Icahn has since withdrawn his support, and a measure that would give shareholders great access to proxy information.

Apple is asking shareholders to vote against all of those measures. The Mac Observer will be on hand for the meeting, and I'll be writing a detailed report afterwards.

The proposals, as included in Apple's Definitive Proxy Statement for 2014:

  1. The election to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “ Board ”) of the eight nominees named in this Proxy Statement (Proposal No. 1);
  2. The amendment of the Company’s Restated Articles of Incorporation (the “ Articles ”) to facilitate the implementation of majority voting for the election of directors in an uncontested election by eliminating Article VII, which relates to the term of directors and the transition from a classified board of directors to a declassified structure (Proposal No. 2);
  3. The amendment of the Company’s Articles to eliminate the “blank check” authority of the Board to issue preferred stock (Proposal No. 3);
  4. The amendment of the Company’s Articles to establish a par value for the Company’s common stock of $0.00001 per share (Proposal No. 4).
  5. Ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for 2014 (Proposal No. 5);
  6. A non-binding advisory resolution to approve executive compensation (Proposal No. 6);
  7. The approval of the Apple Inc. 2014 Employee Stock Plan (Proposal No. 7);
  8. A shareholder proposal by John Harrington and Northstar Asset Management Inc. entitled “Board Committee on Human Rights” to amend the Company’s bylaws (Proposal No. 8);
  9. A shareholder proposal by The National Center for Public Policy Research of a non-binding advisory resolution entitled “Report on Company Membership and Involvement with Certain Trade Associations and Business Organizations” (Proposal No. 9);
  10. A shareholder proposal by Carl Icahn of a non-binding advisory resolution that the Company commit to completing not less than $50 billion of share repurchases during its 2014 fiscal year (and increase the authorization under its capital return program accordingly) (Proposal No. 10); and
  11. A shareholder proposal by James McRitchie of a non-binding advisory resolution entitled “Proxy Access for Shareholders” (Proposal No. 11).

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.