2019 Apple Shareholders Meeting > personal take
An informative upbeat meeting on the breathtaking Apple Campus in the inspiring Steve Jobs theatre.
This morning I attended the Annual Shareholders meeting at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park. It was my third time attending a shareholders meeting. The first was after I bought my Apple shares about a year after Jobs returned to Apple. The second was around the time Al Gore joined the board and Jobs announced he was turning to IBM for G5 RISC chips, even before Apple made the decision to switch to Intel processors.
First I have to say how inspiring it was to be on the Apple Park Campus. I arrived just before 7:30 AM and was directed by a long line of staff attendants to the lowest floor of the visitor center, where I was able to park and charge my 2016 Chevrolet Volt into one of the many Chargepoint stations. I believe there are 30 charges one each of the three levels, for a total of 90 charging stations! Way to go, Apple!
I made my way up to the Visitor Center, aka an Apple Retail Store with very helpful staff, and enjoyed an Americano on Roof Terrace while chatting with Laurel and Josh Lipton of CNBC. Around 8:30 AM my fellow shareholders and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll along Steve Jobs Way to the theater named as his legacy.
I couldn't help but feel a profound sense of connection to the co-Founder of Apple as I walked along the path. Everything, and I mean everything, reminded me of the influence this man had on the world, and reminded me of the minimalist "clean Apple style" the company had evolved to. For me, this meant a monochromatic color scheme, usually a shade of black or white (not a rainbow), soft but squared edges on tables and in corners, and most of all: simplicity...a linear sense of simplicity.
I am not afraid to write that I felt a sense of Steve Jobs spirit permeate through every part of the landscape and structures. He was truly a Master Designer driven by an Artistic Esthetic without an Engineer's scientific discipline.
There were five items on the agenda:
- Election of the Board of Directors
- all passed with > 95% or more of the vote
- Ratification of Ernest & Young LLP as registered public accountants
- overwhelming passed
- To vote on an advisory resolution to approve executive compensation
- overwhelmingly passed
- Shareholder Proxy Access Amendments
- The purpose of this proposal, as I understood it, was to allow for the increase of Shareholder Nominees to Apple's BoD to increase from 1 or 10% (whichever is greater) to 2 or 20%.
- Apple's BoD recommended against this proposal and it was rejected overwhelmingly, by something like 78%.
- True Diversity Board Policy
- This amendment was rejected by over 98%.
As the proposal was read and the conversation evolved, it became evident, at least according to me, that the heart of the proposal was political and ideological in nature; that the proponents wanted an overt contemporary conservative elected to the board.
What pleased me most is that this proposal was rejected by over 98%. I think it was the most overwhelming vote of the meeting, including that of Tim Cook to the BoD.
Cook took the stage after the voting concluded and relayed Apple's record breaking financial performance and Mac sales in 2018.
Reading between the lines, and having listened to several recent interviews with Apple’s CEO, it seems clear that Apple will be targeting the Health Care and Health Insurance markets for revolution. Tim stated that wearables sales, which includes the Apple Watch and I think AirPods, were up 2018. In an interview with Jim Cramer, Tim said that when Apple’s history is written its most important contribution will be in the areas of Health.
I don’t think this limits Apple to technologies related to a person’s health only in the form of monitoring heart rate, blood sugar levels, resperation, etc. Tim also talked about the program wear Apple took all current veterans health care records and put them on their iPhones and Apple Watch. The potential here, where every human being could carry their Electronic Medical Record (EMR) on their phones is significant. This could cut down the enormous amount of red tape medical providers of all types contend with every day. I’ll have more to say about this in future posts.
Honestly, I can't think of any other company that would be more rewarding to invest in. The numbers speak for themselves, as does the company's commitment to the environment, and promoting women in business.