Upcoming Shareholder Proposals: Second Half of February 2025
February 19, 2025
As we look towards the second half of February and the start of the AGM season, we are beginning to witness shareholder engagement heat up.
Both Apple Inc and Deere & Co Annual General Meetings with shareholders vote on resolutions filed by shareholders, with Apple facing four shareholder proposals and Deere & Co facing five shareholder proposals.
Additionally, in the coming weeks both Hologic and AECOM will face shareholder proposals, and Matthews International Corp faces a proxy contest after Barrington Capital nominated three dissident director candidates. The resolutions scheduled for the second half of February are presented in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Upcoming Resolutions for the Second Half of February 2025
Apple Inc’s AGM, which this year is set for 25 February 2025 at 8am, is often one with significant interest, and this year will be no different. The Company faces four proposals, all of which are deemed to be “shadow proposals” filed by anti-ESG proponents.
The proposals focus on Apple’s use of AI, a request for the Board to report on costs and benefits of child sex abuse material-identifying software & user privacy, abolishing diversity & inclusion efforts, and reporting on discrimination in charitable giving.
The proponents, including prominent anti-ESG organisations the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) and National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), as well as American Family Association and Inspire Investing (via Wayne Frantzen).
What is interesting is that every single shareholder proposal on Apple’s AGM agenda is an anti-ESG proposal with no proposals filed by pro-ESG advocates. This is interesting as at Apple’s 2024 AGM we saw more of a split between the two and this year we have seen the shareholder engagement shift to be purely anti-ESG proposals.
Deere & Co is similarly an AGM of significant interest, their meeting this year being held at 10am on 26 February 2025.
Their AGM this year received five shareholder proposals, with three of them being filed by anti-ESG proponents. This time, the anti-ESG proposals were filed by National Legal and Policy Center, National Center for Public Policy Research, and Bowyer Research, Inc.
The anti-ESG proposals focus on Deere & Co.’s racial and gender hiring statistics, the creation of a corporate financial sustainability committee focusing on public policy and advocacy, and, like Apple, a proposal on charitable giving.
Further to these three, As You Sow has proposed that Deere & Co. report to shareholders on the effectiveness of efforts to create a meritocratic workplace, and John Chevedden has requested a civil rights audit to assess legal and business risks associated with bias and discrimination risks, the impact of DEI rollbacks, and the effectiveness of existing DEI efforts.
The topic of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has become a controversial subject in the US following the election of President Donald Trump. On 20 January 2025 President Trump introduced an executive order to roll back DEI programmes and initiatives at federal agencies.
At the same time, several companies have cut back on DEI programmes including Tractor Supply, Target amongst others.
However, noticeably the Apple Board of Directors have recommended shareholders to vote against the proposal seeking to roll back its DEI initiatives highlighting the contested nature on DEI.
This rollback of DEI programmes within Trump’s administration might explain the prevalence of anti-DEI proposals at both Apple and Deere & Co’s upcoming AGMs this year, as investors seek to align the Company’s policies with those of the federal government; this may also explain the uptick in ESG-sceptic investors putting resolutions forward to these two companies.
Evident from the Apple and Deere & Co. AGMs is the continued divide in corporate governance, as shareholder proposals reflect broader ideological battles over the future of businesses. It will be interesting to observe whether we continue to see investors push back against anti-ESG proposals or if there is any shift in the landscape, particularly as the impact of Trump’s anti-DEI and anti-climate policies come into play. But one thing is clear – shareholder engagement is not looking like it is going to slow down anytime soon.
Author: Daniel Kehoe
Last Updated: 19 February 2025