As noted in a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Apple has scheduled their annual shareholder meeting for February 27, 2013 – and considering the wild ride Apple’s stock has been on for the past several months, they’re going to have quite a bit to discuss with their investors.
The meeting will take place at Apple’s corporate HQ in Cupertino, and all current stockholders as of January 2, 2013 are welcome to attend, and vote on a number of propositions that have been submitted to the board of directors. Attendees will also be asked to vote on whether to retain Apple’s current board of directors.
MacNN provides some additional details on some of the matters that investors will be able to vote on:
Attendees will be asked to approve the re-election of Apple’s current board, and ratify the choice of Ernst & Young as the independent accounting firm. In the mailing to shareholders, Apple SVP and General Counsel Bruce Sewell offers four company-based proposals to be voted on at the meeting: an advisory vote on executive compensation, an elimination of “blank check” preferred stock options, a change to Apple’s articles of incorporation to allow for adopting majority voting for directors, and the establishment of a “par value” (face value) of one one-hundreth of a penny per share of Apple
The latter proposal is a new concept for AAPL, which has never had a par value before. However, establishing one will allow the company to put a de minimus value of the outstanding stock on its books, and may also help it reduce some franchise tax liability. As far as the “preferred stock” proposal goes, Apple has not issued any such stock in over a decade, but the proposal will prevent future boards from issuing preferred stock without shareholder approval.
Shareholders will also have the opportunity to present proposals for voting, and will have a chance to ask Apple to answer questions about their company and their stock – such as what Apple plans to do to stop AAPL’s downward spiral, for instance.
Considering that Apple’s stock is down over 30% since last September, you can bet that many investors will take advantage of every opportunity at their disposal to get some answers and see APPL’s financial tide rise once more.
