Billionaire Carl Icahn lost his proxy fight with McDonald’s on Thursday, after the company’s shareholders dismissed his animal-welfare concerns.
Only 1% of shareholders voted in favor of the nominees put forward by Icahn, who is an investor in the fast-food company.
Last February Icahn criticized McDonald’s for failing to meet its original deadline for eliminating its suppliers’ use of gestation crates for pregnant pigs.
The company has blamed the covid pandemic and African swine fever outbreaks for pushing back the original deadline of 2022 set a decade ago to achieve this goal.
“Moving forward, McDonald’s board and leadership team remain focused on continuing to take actions that uphold and advance our values while committing to serve the interests of all our shareholders,” the company said in a statement.
According to media reports Icahn’s, who is considered a “billionaire activist”, has about 200 McDonald’s shares, not enough stake to gain much influence over the voting.
The billionaire was influenced to act on McDonald’s by his daughter, an animal lover who is also known for her involvement with the Humane Society.
Icahn is waging a similar proxy fight at giant U.S. supermarket Kroger.
