Friday, February 24, 2012

Inside the Apple Shareholder Meeting

Tim CookTim Cook, Apple's Chief Executive OfficerApple shareholders are meeting in Cupertino today and there is no shortage of issues to discuss.

The company faces growing concerns over labor conditions in factories in China, a dispute over the iPad trademark and it has been the recent target of privacy concerns.

Despite the problems Apple [AAPL  Loading...      ()   ] is facing though, the company's stock continues to climb higher, up about 20 percent year-to-date, and its product sales remain more than impressive. Apple sold 37 million iPhones and 15.5 million iPads in the fourth quarter alone. An iPad 3 is expected to be released in March, however, it is not expected that the new product will be brought up at the shareholder meeting.

CNBC's technology reporter Jon Fortt is reporting live from the meeting with the latest updates.

2:07 P.M. : Shareholder meeting ends.

2:06 P.M. : Stock split question, Cook responds: "We talk about everything we think is in the shareholders' best interest. A stock split isn't so clear." (Cook says research suggests a short-term pop and later it resets, so in the loing term it does nothing.)

2:03 P.M. : Cook speaks passionately about iBooks Author as a contribution ... "The contributions Apple will make to education will mostly come from our products."

"We either gave equipment or gave discounts on equipment of three quarters of a billion dollars last year," Cook says.

Apple had more than 600 interns on its main campus this past summer, the most ever, Oppenheimer says.

1:58 P.M. : Cook: "We strongly believe education is the great equalizer."

Cook responded saying that a high percentage of Apple employees are contributing to education causes and Apple is matching their donations.

1:57 P.M. : A shareholder suggests Apple use cash to invest in scholarships for science and engineering education.

1:56 P.M. : Shareholder question on Apple advertising in controversial TV shows (questioner talks about Family Guy specifically).

"We might not always have the same view of a specific TV shows .... Maybe we will or maybe we won't," said Cook.

1:53 P.M. : Cook: "It continues to be a value" that Apple won't do porn in the app store.

1:52 P.M. : Shareholder: "Question on Facebook, friend or foe — and where does social networking into the picture. Also: I just bought a big LG TV and have 60 days to return it. Should I return it?"

Cook: "Facebook: friend. We do a lot with them, our users use Facebook an enormous amount. ... I've always thought that the two companies could do more together." ... "We've integrated Twitter ... It's been great for Twitter, but it's been great for our users" .... iMessage "the volume is incredible."

Cook: "Obviously, I'm not going to comment on your second question (TV)."

1:47 P.M. : "The reality of an a la carte system like you've described ... is not likely" in the near term, Cook said.

Apple doesn't see a reason to own a label or a studio.

1:45 P.M. : "We haven't had to own a music label to accomplish" what they did in music, Cook says. "We get profit from selling devices..." Apple doesn't want to make a ton of money from content, he said.

1:44 P.M. : Cook: "On cash, we've been thinking about cash very deeply, the board has been looking into what is in shareholders' best interest ... We've spent billions on ... Supply chain, retail, etc .... My message there is that the board and the management team are thinking about this very deeply ... And we will do what we think is in the best interest of shareholders."

1:40 P.M. : A shareholder takes the mic to speak against a dividend, to say Apple should use it to acquire video content. The shareholder is speaking against a regular common stock dividend, as opposed to a special dividend.

1:39 P.M. : Phil Schiller and Peter Oppenheimer coming out to answer questions as well.

1:38 P.M. : Cook Mentions $46 billion last quarter: "We had an extra week, full disclosure," he says.

1:36 P.M. : All of the innovation on product resulted in $108 billion, $43 billion of growth, more than HP [HPQ  Loading...      ()   ] , Dell [DELL  Loading...      ()   ] , Nokia, HTC [HTCCY  Loading...      ()   ] , RIM [RIMM  Loading...      ()   ] put together, Cook says.

1:34 P.M. :  Apple has more than 360 retail stores, more than 110 million visited last quarter, Cook says.

1:33 P.M. : "Apple has become a jobs platform," thanks to iOS, Cook says.

1:32 P.M. :  Cook recounts an "Amazing year" of iPhone 4S, iPad, iPod, Mac. Cook says iOS is over 550 thousand apps.

1:31 P.M. :  Cook first mentions it is the first meeting since Jobs's passed, says "There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss him." Cook thanks shareholders for their condolences, says his sadness has turned to determination.

1:30 P.M. :  Formal portion of meeting is over; Tim Cook takes stage.

1:27 P.M. :  All directors elected with more than 80 percent of the vote. Auditor has been approved.

On the measure for directors to further declare conflicts of interest: preliminary voting shows 1.9 percent, not approved.

On a non-binding shareholder say on director pay: preliminary voting shows 3.61 percent preliminary vote, not approved.

On political contribution disclosure, failed

1:11 P.M. : Apple adopts majority voting. Though Apple had recommended against it, they saw it was likely to win. Apple board members all will voluntarily resign if they do not receive a majority of votes.


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