Ondrej Holzman Apple's annual shareholder meeting today was long-awaited due to the case involving the preferred shares, but in the end only two other proposals were discussed in Cupertino, and neither passed. Tim Cook then answered questions...
The meeting began with all board members being re-elected, with Tim Cook receiving a vote of confidence from 99,1 percent of shareholders. Subsequently, there were two proposals that Apple did not support and which were also not approved in the end.
The first proposal required Apple's top executives to hold at least 33 percent of the company's stock until they retire. However, Apple itself recommended not to approve the proposal, and shareholders also voted in the same spirit. The second proposal concerned the establishment of a Human Rights Commission in Apple's board of directors, but even in this case Apple came up with a negative recommendation, as the new supplier rules of conduct already serve this purpose.
However, the meeting of apple share holders was discussed long in advance due to Proposal 2. This was supposed to block the possibility that Apple's board of directors could arbitrarily issue preferred shares. If Proposition 2 is approved, it could do so only after shareholder approval. However, David Einhorn from Greenlight Capital did not agree with this, who even filed a lawsuit against Apple, and since he succeeded in court, Apple withdrew this item from the program.
However, Tim Cook reiterated to shareholders today that he considers it a silly show. "I'm still convinced of that. Regardless of the court ruling, I believe this is a fool's game.” stated today in Cupertino, the executive director of Apple. “But I don't think it's stupid to return money to shareholders. That is an option we are seriously considering.”
[do action=”citation”]We are looking for new areas.[/do]
Shareholders also received an apology from Cook for the decline in Apple's share price. "I don't like it either. Nobody at Apple likes how much Apple stock is trading for now compared to previous months, but we're focused on long-term goals.”
As usual, Cook did not want to let anyone peek into Apple's kitchen and was tight-lipped about future products. "We're obviously looking at new areas - we're not talking about them, but we're watching them," at least this tidbit was revealed by Cook, hinting that Apple could indeed venture into the TV industry or come up with its own watch.
During his speech, Cook also mentioned Samsung and Android when talking about market share and its importance. "Obviously, Android is on a lot of phones, and it's probably true that iOS is on a lot more tablets," he said. However, when asked about market share, he said: "Success is not everything." For Apple, it is important to gain a certain market share primarily in order to be able to create a strong ecosystem, which it certainly has now. "We could push a button or two and create the most products in a given category, but that wouldn't be good for Apple."
Cook also recalled how Apple was able to grow last year. "We've grown by roughly $48 billion – more than Google, Microsoft, Dell, HP, RIM and Nokia combined,"” he said, also sharing that Apple has secured $24 billion in sales in China, more than any other technology company in the United States. Cook also believes that in another fast-growing market, Brazil, users will return to buy more Apple products, as over 50 percent of customers who buy an iPad here are first-time Apple buyers.
