Set the date on your iPhone calendar, the Apple annual meeting and Carl Icahn-Tim Cook showdown will be Feb. 28 at noon EST.
Icahn’s High River Limited Partnership has proposed that shareholders approve a non-binding resolution that Apple commit to completing not less than $50 billion in share repurchases during Apple’s fiscal year ending September 27, 2014, a proxy filing released Friday said.
Apple recommended against the proposal in a polite fashion.
“[We] believe that capital should be returned to shareholders on an efficient and sustained basis, and that the evaluation of capital return should be performed regularly and carefully with the best long-term interest of the business and shareholders in mind.”
Apple also said, “Dividends and share repurchases must be funded by domestic cash, and the Company [over the last six quarters] has returned [$43 billion] to shareholders or invested all of the domestic cash generated by its business and raised through the issuance of debt.”
In a separate filing Apple said CEO Cook received $4.25 million, while other top execs CFO Peter Oppenheimer and SVP Eddy Cue earned $2.63 million.
In what is sure to be a controversial move, Apple too recommends against a Northstar Asset Management proposal to form a board Committee on human rights to examine its criticized treatment of foreign workers.
“The Board does not believe that establishing a committee is an effective way for the Company’s practices and goals to continually evolve and improve in response to changing conditions. Instead, such an additional and redundant committee would distract the Board from its other responsibilities,” Apple said.
BlackRock is Apple’s largest shareholder and has increased its stake since its last public filing from 5.1 to 5.6 percent — worth $28 billion as of Friday’s closing price — according to the proxy filing.