<a href="https://twitter.com/setteBIT/status/439458564189335552">Image via SetteB.it</a>
This morning, Apple is holding its 2014 official shareholders meeting from its Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino, California. The proceedings are just beginning, and Apple executives are expected (per usual) to field questions from attending shareholders.
One of the orders of business at this meeting is voting to approve or reject both proposals from Apple’s management and shareholders. Bloomberg‘s Jon Erlichman reports that shareholders have rejected every proposal created by other shareholders while all proposals from Apple management have been approved…
The rejected shareholder proposals cover a Board Committee for Human Rights, Carl Icahn’s infamous (and recently withdrawn) share repurchase proposal, Proxy Access for Shareholders, and a report related to Company Membership and Involvement with Certain Trade Associations and Business Organizations.
Late last year, Apple recommended that shareholders vote against the Icahn and Board Committee for Human Rights proposals. Apple said that it “is committed to the highest standards of social responsibility and human rights wherever we do business.” The company added that its Board of Directors “is aware of no other company that does as much to safeguard and empower workers as the Company does today.”
Regarding Carl Icahn’s proposal, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer have been reluctant to taking Icahn’s suggestions. Instead, the company is moving carefully with its money by focusing on research and development, acquisitions, and future product pipelines.
During the meeting, Cook told shareholders that Apple made $1 billion in revenue (from both hardware and content sales) in 2013 from the Apple TV. This number led Cook to say “it’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days.” We previously reported that Apple is working on a successor to the current Apple TV that will expand both hardware and software capabilities. Earlier today, Apple started promoting the Apple TV with a $25 iTunes gift card offer. The promotion is active through the middle of next week.
Cook said that several billion iMessages are sent each day. Cook also stated 15 to 20 million FaceTime video calls are conducted each day.
CNBC video on the shareholder meeting (with notable comments from Cook):
Cook said research and development spending up 32% year-over-year, Apple is putting its money “where its mouth is.” Cook added that Apple bought 23 companies over the last 16 months and that Apple is not opposed to buying a bigger company if it is the “right fit.” Cook also talked about opportunities in new emerging markets. Cook said that Apple would have an announcement regarding its share buyback program within 60 days.
All of Apple’s board members were re-elected.
Live updates below from the shareholder meeting:
– Protests are occurring outside of Apple’s campus this morning:
– Apple says 40 billion iMessages and 15-20 million FaceTime calls are made daily:
*APPLE SENDS 40B IMESSAGES A DAY, 15M-20M FACETIME VIDEO CALLS
— Jay Yarow (@jyarow) February 28, 2014
– Apple TV made $1 billion revenue for Apple in 2013, per CEO Tim Cook.
– Tim Cook says Apple is “in it for the long term:”
*APPLE'S COOK: WE'RE IN IT FOR THE LONG TERM
— Jay Yarow (@jyarow) February 28, 2014
– Tim Cook on Apple TV: “It’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days.” Indeed.
– The math on Apple TV units sold:
Apple sold roughly 10 million Apple TV boxes last year, up from 5 million in 2012.
— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) February 28, 2014
Roughly 5% of iPhone and iPad buyers purchased Apple TV last year.
— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) February 28, 2014
Apple TV is the fastest growing hardware product in Apple's line-up. My estimate is 80% y/y.
— Horace Dediu (@asymco) February 28, 2014
A total of 28 million Apple TVs sold so far (since 2007). Total cumulative hardware revenues likely around $3.5 billion.
— Horace Dediu (@asymco) February 28, 2014
– Tim Cook on innovation at Apple:
Phew! *APPLE'S COOK: APPLE HAS NOT LOST INNOVATIVE DNA
— Jay Yarow (@jyarow) February 28, 2014
– All directors re-elected:
*APPLE SHAREHOLDERS REELECT ALL CURRENT DIRECTORS — Bloomberg
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 28, 2014
Apple shareholder meeting: where you put your gadgets in bag when you enter the building instead of when you leave. pic.twitter.com/wmFjXyWmu9
— Alexei Oreskovic (@lexnfx) February 28, 2014
Correction: Tim Cook’s comment previously reported that 40 billion iMessages sent was actually referring to notifications as clarified below.
[tweet https://twitter.com/daiwaka/status/439498308491673600]
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To automatically vote any shareholder suggestion down, won’t serve Apple in the long term. Now that Steve Jobs has passed, Apple is finding it increasingly difficult to keep being innovative. Instead they just improve on already existing products. Shareholder suggestions can be just as powerful, if not better than Apple executive ideas.
You may have misread that. It said, “shareholders have rejected every proposal created by other shareholders…” It’s not Apple executives rejecting ideas from shareholders.
Didn’t misread it. Shareholders are too “sheeplike” by just disregarding other shareholders proposals.
That is a pretty absurd statement. I consider the iPad Air, 5S Fingerprint Scanner, and Mac Pro all incredible innovations.
New products take YEARS to get right. Innovation is going on behind the scenes, and just because nothing has been announced doesn’t mean people are not working their ass off to change the world and enrich others to do the same.
Steve Jobs wouldn’t have selected Tim Cook to be his successor if he didn’t think he was the best person in the world for the job. I trust Tim Cook to continue the journey.
I totally agree… users just love to complains. Apple is innovating a lot.
Theres a difference between new products and just improvements. All of that which you mentioned are just improvements. Perhaps the iWatch will be something innovative that we haven’t seen yet.
Trusting Tim Cook to lead Apple? Is that why stocks fell from $700 to $500? Cook is competent as a logistics manager, but hardly inspiring.
People working their asses off, is just a naive statement.
So, list all of the “new” products Apple released between 1997 and 2011 while Jobs was there?
You’re being coy, but just a few examples:
iPod
iPad
iPhone
iMac
Do you get it?
To name but a few:
Hockey puck mouse
IPod Hi-Fi
iSight
Apple eMate
Cube
All innovative and successful.
Ignore the troll, people. Anyone who says that Apple is struggling to innovate is just looking for reactions for people. As is some nobody on the internet has any insight into what Apple is doing behind the scenes.
Jobs has been gone for 2 years. Chill the F out. You call shareholders “sheeplike” yet you have selectively convinced yourself into believing Steve Jobs pooped out new products and product lines every time he lifted his finger. Here’s a bit of a history lesson – He didn’t. Major new product initiatives don’t happen very often, even under Steve Jobs. More importantly, huge opportunities like the iPhone very rarely happen in the marketplace, the timing was just right for a product like that to come out.
Steve Jobs spent a fair bit of his career “improving” things, as you like to characterize as being simply trivial and not innovative. He also spent a fair bit of his career on things that didn’t work out too well. The man wasn’t perfect either.
So lets chill out and quit acting like 2 years is a decade. In these 2 years Apple has been tremendously active and focused. Exactly like they were under Jobs. The only thing Apple is finding increasingly difficult is lifting this spell from absent minded people who think “innovation” is some kind of mechanical process, rather than something organic that just happens under the right circumstances and under the right culture.
Well said. And it is very likely that Apple is following a predetermined roadmap that was laid out with Steve Job’s help. If he was still alive, I do not think we would have seen one more piece of innovation over this same period.
iMac was just an iteration of the Macintosh, it’s not a new product. So iPod (2001), iPhone (2007), iPad (2010). So, in 15 years under Jobs they came out with 3 new product lines and it was several years between each one…
In the case of what Icahn and co wanted, it is a good thing it was rejected. It was all about stealing money from Apple’s accounts and giving free gifts to shareholders. By reducing those funds, Apple would become more limited in what money it could allocate to Research and Innovation and also Employee salaries.\
Please share an example of a shareholder proposal – approved or rejected – that addresses even the topic of product innovation I’ve seen policy proposals, business management proposals, and financial proposals. Yet I’ve never seen an “innovation” related one. As a shareholder, I think there are exactly the right people running Apple.
I’m a shareholder too. I’ve seen my shares drop in value, not increase. Google is now at +$1200 a share, growing steadily, yet Apple seems to be struggling in this regard.
I’m clearly an Apple fan, but that dosen’t make me blind to areas where improvements could be made.
If you put too much faith in one aspect, you’re just bound to get disappointed. In this regard, it seems that the shareholders place too much faith in Apple themselves.
Product innovation is key, its what made Apple that which it is now, however no new product category has come up.
Its just a matter of time when rival companies produce goods that are on par with the standard of Apple and that will be a bad time for Apple.
You’re a complete idiot. Try looking at their lineup.
I reckon Apple’s sneaking iBeacon upon the sleeping competition.