Apple
At Apple, the keys sit with the shareholders as a crowd. No one comes close to control: the largest holder, Vanguard, owns 9.63% but votes only a sliver of it, and the whole board and management own under 1%.
Who controls the vote
Share of outstanding stock (one share, one vote) from the ownership table. Vanguard reports voting power over about 19.8M of its 1.4B shares.
On a small screen, swipe sideways across the painting.
Who holds which key
- The board8 nominees, 7 independent · independent chair
- Hire and fire the CEO
- Set executive pay
- Vanguard · BlackRockown 9.63% + 7.10%
No key of their own.
- The shareholdersone share, one vote · 22,380 holders of record
- Elect the board
- Remove a director
- Approve a merger or sale · with the board
- Amend the charter · with the board
- Call a special meeting · with 10% of shares
- Decide shareholder votes
From the filing
| Votes per share | 1 | “Each share of Apple's common stock has one vote on each matter. ... As of the Record Date, there were 14,697,926,000 shares of Apple's common stock issued and outstanding, held by 22,380 shareholders of record.” |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard | Owns 9.63%, votes ~0.13% | “'it has shared voting power with respect to 19,800,347 shares of Apple's common stock, sole dispositive power with respect to 1,343,278,627 shares'” |
| Board and management | Under 1% together | “All current directors and executive officers as a group (12 persons) 9,079,765(17) * (* = less than 1%)” |
| Chair | Independent, separate from the CEO | “The Board has determined that all Board members, other than Mr. Cook, are independent ... All directors are elected annually for a one-year term.” |
| Special meetings | 10% of shareholders can call one | “Shareholders owning at least 10% of our outstanding shares have the right to call a special meeting of the shareholders.” |
| Proxy access | 3% for 3 years nominates up to 20% | “Up to 20 shareholders owning at least 3% of our outstanding shares continuously for three years may nominate up to 20% of our Board.” |