Hmmm. This is the best argument I’ve ever heard for not using Apple products (besides the overinflated prices). Being flush with cash is probably why the CEO says he doesn’t care about the ROI (return on investment) and won’t make the costs transparent per a shareholder request. Seems like a sensible business request to me.
Some headlines/screencaps. FORTUNE magazine:
More: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2014/03/01/apple-cook-shareholders-sustainability/
==============================================================
The Mac Observer:
More: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/tim-cook-soundly-rejects-politics-of-the-ncppr-suggests-group-sell-apples-s
===========================================================
Press release from NCPPR:
Tim Cook to Apple Investors: Drop Dead
Apple CEO Tim Cook tells Investors Who Care More About Return on Investment than Climate Change: Your Money is No Longer Welcome
As Board Member Al Gore Cheers the Tech Giant’s Dedication to Environmental Activism, Investors Left to Wonder Just How Much Shareholder Value is Being Destroyed in Efforts to Combat “Climate Change”
Free-Market Activist Presents Shareholder Resolution to Computer Giant Apple Calling for Consumer Transparency on Environmental Issues; Company Balks
Cupertino, CA / Washington, D.C. – At today’s annual meeting of Apple shareholders in Cupertino, California, Apple CEO Tim Cook informed investors that are primarily concerned with making reasonable economic returns that their money is no longer welcome.
The message came in response to the National Center for Public Policy Research’s shareholder resolution asking the tech giant to be transparent about its environmental activism and a question from the National Center about the company’s environmental initiatives.
“Mr. Cook made it very clear to me that if I, or any other investor, was more concerned with return on investment than reducing carbon dioxide emissions, my investment is no longer welcome at Apple,” said Justin Danhof, Esq., director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project.
Danhof also asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about the company’s green energy pursuits. Danhof asked whether the company’s environmental investments increased or decreased the company’s bottom line. After initially suggesting that the investments make economic sense, Cook said the company would pursue environmental goals even if there was no economic point at all to the venture. Danhof further asked if the company’s projects would continue to make sense if the federal government stopped heavily subsidizing alternative energy. Cook completely ignored the inquiry and became visibly agitated.
Danhof went on to ask if Cook was willing to amend Apple’s corporate documents to indicate that the company would not pursue environmental initiatives that have some sort of reasonable return on investment – similar to the concession the National Center recently received from General Electric. This question was greeted by boos and hisses from the Al gore contingency in the room.
“Here’s the bottom line: Apple is as obsessed with the theory of so-called climate change as its board member Al Gore is,” said Danhof. “The company’s CEO fervently wants investors who care more about return on investments than reducing CO2 emissions to no longer invest in Apple. Maybe they should take him up on that advice.”
“Although the National Center’s proposal did not receive the required votes to pass, millions of Apple shareholders now know that the company is involved with organizations that don’t appear to have the best interest of Apple’s investors in mind,” said Danhof. “Too often investors look at short-term returns and are unaware of corporate policy decisions that may affect long-term financial prospects. After today’s meeting, investors can be certain that Apple is wasting untold amounts of shareholder money to combat so-called climate change. The only remaining question is: how much?”
The National Center’s shareholder resolution noted that “[s]ome trade associations and business organizations have expanded beyond the promotion of traditional business goals and are lobbying business executives to pursue objectives with primarily social benefits. This may affect Company profitability and shareholder value. The Company’s involvement and acquiescence in these endeavors lacks transparency, and publicly-available information about the Company’s trade association memberships and related activities is minimal. An annual report to shareholders will help protect shareholder value.”
Apple’s full 2014 proxy statement is available here. The National Center’s proposal, “Report on Company Membership and Involvement with Certain Trade Associations and Business Organizations,” appears on page 60.
The National Center filed the resolution, in part, because of Apple’s membership in the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), one of the country’s largest trade associations. In its 2013 “Retail Sustainability Report,” RILA states: “Companies will often develop individual or industry voluntary programs to reduce the need for government regulations. If a retail company minimizes its waste generation, energy and fuel usage, land-use footprint, and other environmental impacts, and strives to improve the labor conditions of the workers across its product supply chains, it will have a competitive advantage when regulations are developed.”
“This shows that rather than fighting increased government regulation, RILA is cooperating with Washington, D.C.’s stranglehold on American business in a misguided effort to stop so-called climate change,” said Danhof. “That is not an appropriate role for a trade association.”
For even more information on RILA, read “The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA): A Cartel that Threatens Innovation and Competitiveness,” by National Center Senior Fellow Dr. Bonner Cohen.
“Rather than opting for transparency, Apple opposed the National Center’s resolution,” noted Danhof. “Apple’s actions, from hiring of President Obama’s former head of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson, to its investments in supposedly 100 percent renewable data centers, to Cook’s antics at today’s meeting, appear to be geared more towards combating so-called climate change rather than developing new and innovative phones and computers.”
After Danhof presented the proposal, a representative of CalPERS rose to object and stated that climate change should be one of corporate America’s primary concerns, and after she called carbon dioxide emissions a “mortal danger,” Apple board member and former vice president Al Gore turned around and loudly clapped and cheered.
“If Apple wants to follow Al Gore and his chimera of climate change, it does so at its own peril,” said Danhof. “Sustainability and the free market can work in concert, but not if Al Gore is directing corporate behavior.”
“Tim Cook, like every other American, is entitled to his own political views and to be an activist of any legal sort he likes on his own time,” said Amy Ridenour, chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research. “And if Tim Cook, private citizen, does not care that over 95 percent of all climate models have over-forecast the extent of predicted global warming, and wishes to use those faulty models to lobby for government policies that raise prices, kill jobs and retard economic growth and extended lifespans in the Third World, he has a right to lobby as he likes. But as the CEO of a publicly-held corporation, Tim Cook has a responsibility to, consistent with the law, to make money for his investors. If he’d rather be CEO of the Sierra Club or Greenpeace, he should apply.”
“As in the past, Cook took but a handful of questions from the many shareholders present who were eager to ask a question at the one meeting a year in which shareholder questions are taken,” added Ridenour, “leaving many disappointed. Environmentalism may be a byword at Apple, but transparency surely is not.”
The National Center’s Free Enterprise Project is a leading free-market corporate activist group. In 2013, Free Enterprise Project representatives attended 33 shareholder meetings advancing free-market ideals in the areas of health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, media bias, gun rights and many more important public policy issues. Today’s Apple meeting was the National Center’s third attendance at a shareholder meeting so far in 2014.
The National Center for Public Policy Research is an Apple shareholder, as are National Center executives.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations, and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors.
=================================================================
h/t to “cincinatuschili”
UPDATE: Yes, he must have.
@wattsupwiththat Wonder if he's forgotten about all those coal fired power stations running his Chinese factories?
— Karl Bentley (@bentleykarl) March 2, 2014
Poptech on March 2, 2014 at 6:13 pm
The issue is known and addressed on the forum …
Mystery diners spotlighted a restaurant manager that told a customer to go elsewhere. The owners fired him on the spot.
All that was asked for was transparency, which is the right of every shareholder. To know where the money is going. Instead of providing an answer, the CEO tells them to get rid of their stocks.
The CEO of a company has a legal obligation to make money for the shareholders. If going green makes money, then the shareholders have a right to know. If it loses money, they still have a right to know.
Poptech on March 2, 2014 at 6:13 pm
… missed …
The updates are not done with any PC’s, only the initial installation! It’s done directly in the mobile via Internet … (Don’t you know …?)
The request to show how much is being spent on non-business related activities is reasonable. The response was ‘if you are not prepared to trust me, invest elsewhere.’
So, do you trust Cook? You can’t reasonably invest in a company that hides from its owners where the money goes. That is BS.
For the record I have never owned any Apple product. I know they have a vast sum of cash outside the USA which they do not want to repatriate because it would be taxed. That is a liability I don’t want to invest in.
I’ve never owned a thing from Apple but did eye-off the original Mac as it was an impressive and a revolutionary product at the time. But I’ve not seen anything from them since I could say that about.
But whatever happened to intelligent people being open to the full range of viable explanations that are consistent with observations? Why do these weird hardline geeks feel some imperative to select a preferred truth when they can’t possibly know what the truth will turn out to be?
And no trace of reasonable doubt is in evidence, its full-on rampaging zealotry, even when mere weather variability might maybe give one pause with regard to such precipitous gratuitous position-taking.
Is this wise? GIGO based decision-making? Is that what constitutes awareness with such people? “Jump the shark”, comes to mind for some reason.
I guess we should not be too surprised given Apple’s stable of consumer products defines the quintessence of style-over-substance.
Hope you guys are staying warm in the deep south.
john another says:
March 2, 2014 at 6:37 pm
Crony Capitalism NEVER ends well for the people.
john,
True. But the actions of half-Cook’d Apple are not ‘crony capitalism’.
Their actions are accurately termed Crony Socialism… or Crony Gaiaism, if you prefer.
Alternately, OrGaiaism, for the folks who really, really get hot and bothered about ‘saving the planet’.
I don’t think this is just to appeal to the liberals-in-charge of the USA right now. Jobs picked his successor well in terms of someone with misplaced idealism. I’ll bet that, if real conservatives were to hold the presidency and a majority in Congress, Cook would still be promoting every hair-brained liberal nutcase idea that comes along and fighting them tooth-and-nail. Same as Jobs. They’re Gaia-worshipping nutjobs. They’ll be more than happy to sacrifice their shareholders and employees for the sake of their eco-religion.
If my car was an Apple I’d have to buy Apple gasoline, Apple tires, and Apple spare parts plus drive on Apple roads paying an Apple tax per mile.
I wonder if Rush will mention anything about Tim Cook today?
pat says:
March 2, 2014 at 6:36 pm
“… Just because Spencer repeatedly asserted that the word “denier” automatically invokes Holocaust denial doesn’t make the assertion true. As I’ve pointed out before, the word “denier” does not automatically invoke Holocaust denial. It simply means that someone is denying something. …”
>>>
Disagree, it’s a propaganda hook that was designed and selected specifically to press emotive historical buttons and evoke associated sentiment and thus brand an accused ‘denier’ with overtones of dangerous and potentially calamitous extremism.
And it does EXACTLY that.
This is not something that’s used in relation to disagreement over any other form of scientific theory and disagreement.
It’s a term deliberately selected to appeal to the lowest comprehension and education level within an audience and to accommodate the shallowest levels of anti-think, as it’s repeatedly flopped-out, penis-like, amid otherwise attempted reasoned discussion.
With respect, it seems provincial to naive to suggest it’s just an innocent juxtaposition of terms.
I’ve never cared for the whole ‘Apple Thing’. The cool guy in the ad as opposed to the nerdy guy; I guess the nerdy guy is me. There are many I-phone users who are non-political but when it comes to the OS used at home if it’s a Mac there’s a 97% certainty you’ll be dealing with a liberal.
Actually, John Servais, global warming/climate change was a major component, if not the largest component, of why we went to Apple. Interestingly, we put the same question to General Electric, and General Electric said “yes.”
Apple is not particularly green. Either Cook is deluding himself about how green it is or he was using the occasion to act angry, thereby sending the message that it is doing all kinds of green things. Unfortunately for him, the media (not just Fortune, it is all over the place, including Drudge) is reporting that he told all “deniers” to get out of his stock (he didn’t, actually), and that’s bad PR.
Anyone interested in the shareholder proposal we put in at Apple can read it here (go to proposal #9): http://investor.apple.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-14-8074&CIK=320193
The Greenbiz article is the usual tripe. Our agreement with GE is on the Securities and Exchange Commission website at: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/14a-8/2013/nationalcenter123013-14a8.pdf
I use Apple and Microsoft products on a daily basis and really to be honest they’re not that different these days. They’re both gravitating towards simplicity and touchscreeniness and the software for one works pretty much like the software for the other. Apple is way ahead in portable tech though, and I’m not sure Microsoft will ever be able to catch up at this point. And let’s face it, for 90% of people that is what what they want. A little device they can carry around. Looking up news, sending photos, keeping in touch, checking Facebook etc is all the mass market really cares about, and Apple is making those things so easy (and stylish.) Go ahead and swear off Apple, but they’re not going anywhere, friends! 🙂
Tim Cook seems to be doing an excellent job in keeping Apple lean and mean. They are raking in cash. His strongest skill is keeping things running smoothly and Steve Jobs recognized that and put him in charge of Apple before he died. I also don’t think there’s any think inherently wrong with sustainabilty either as long as it’s being used as a sensible way to reuse waste materials (as opposed to it being used as a way to stop production in the first place.)
As much of a fan of Apple as I am, I really, really hope that they aren’t taking a stance on global warming being mankind’s fault, because I genuinely couldn’t remain a user of Apple products in that case. The articles mentioned have a lot of words being put into other people’s mouths. I think Apple wants to do good– if they believe that doing good means fighting global warming, that’s just a sign that they’ve been persuaded by warmist nonsense. I have hope that the truth will prevail in the end. That’s our jobs as skeptics..
It would be tough moving away from Apple after defending them for 20 years! And seeing them come back from near-death to where they are now.
This was rambling and I’m going to bed, goodnight WUWTers
Interesting. Lots of tech people here on various issues. I have two PC laptops and a desktop, an old Motorola flip phone, two MacBooks and an old iPhone that will be replaced with a non Apple product when it dies. Being only a little bit techy and very old fashioned, I use different devices for different tasks. Microsoft tried discontinuing NT but some of us are still using it. They tried doing an “Apple” and forcing people to upgrade but a lot of users like me just said no, and kept on using NT (and XP). Microsoft gave in to user demands but Apple forces upgrades. That position is going to end with my iPhone being filmed in a field with a bullet going through it. For me it is the “apps” and my user requirements that are important. I actually run some XP programs on my Macs using and emulator because I like the apps and I can move data back and forth between my old PC’s and my Macs. The iPhone is a power hog and so are the Macs so I don’t know where they get the “green” thing from. I have TWO external battery packs for my iPhone cause it only lasts two or three hours per charge at 20 C below zero and searching for a signal. My MacBooks are similar power hogs and can’t go far from a power source. My Dell and Acer both do better outside in the cold. Course, Apple being used to California weather …
Not very green in my experience but what the heck, lots of sun energy in California … oh wait, aren’t they importing power and other energy sources??
Ah well … “horses for courses” and “better the devil you know …”
(2010 – 54% of electricity produced from natural gas, 90% of gas came from out of state.)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/california-power-supply-affected-by-extreme-cold-in-canada-u-s-1.2526347
http://energyalmanac.ca.gov/overview/energy_sources.html
Republicans and Democrats – NEITHER “prefer” Apple iPhones over Android or vice versa…
http://macdailynews.com/2012/03/28/u-s-apple-product-users-split-evenly-between-republicans-and-democrats-half-of-u-s-households-own-at-least-one-apple-product/
Rarely will the companies I deal with be companies that share my politics and my worldview.
I can handle that. [trimmed, racist and uncalled-for.] If I loved Apple OS, I would stick to it despite their love of cult-liberalism.
Otherwise, you end up like some progressives I know who have no company they will buy anything from, but still do since the alternative is impossible.
Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Those of us who do are not responsible if you at the same time beat your wife.
A CEO forgetting that he does not own the company; and he has to account for what he is doing with SH money…
And made in China where coal is king. Funny!
Apple has has some bad management in the past and here in the present. Cook is no Steve Jobs and never will be. Maybe Cook should answer why he builds his products in China with no environmental laws and for pennies while reselling at outrageous prices. Cook doesn’t frighten me away from Apple products – I’m using Apple to kick him where the sun don’t shine. That there is how to properly use an Apple. As always Apple will survive this dead beat like it did the others.
Or simply install Linux. It is very simple, the machine is as good as new afterwards. I’ve done it several times already, not looking back. Posting this from Kubuntu.
Worst Apple news I’ve EVER read. I always doubted TIm Cook could guide this company from watching Apple product events and his guarded petulance proves he is unfit for public leadership. Steve, you blew this choice for ‘jobs’ as your follow up. Tim Cook views the world thru an ultra progressive mindset that despises traditional values and concepts like capitalism so he can ubiquitously ‘Save the Whales’ (likely his first ’cause’ as a.college student!) Sad.
Poptech –
i just linked to the scholars & rogues page & i see only 4 comments (one more than earlier today), not the 37 u say u saw there.
not surprised if your comment/link was deleted, tho.
With due respect, what Cook actually said was “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.”
Nothing here that would not appear to be within the remit of any CEO comfortable in the support of an empowering Board?
empty gesture design to help the ‘hip’ image of Apple to keep the [sheep] on-board. And its empty because the sheep would by a turd if they stuck a Apple logo on it , some would say they already have.
I would hazard a guess that Cookie has had a “Ratner” moment. His outburst will be put down to the fact that he was “tired & emotional”. The AP photo is self explanatory. He clagged himself.
Poo has its own timetable & Cookie couldn’t help defecating on his shareholders doorsteps.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573380/Doing-a-Ratner-and-other-famous-gaffes.html
ATTN JOSH:
jdgalt says:
March 2, 2014 at 3:35 pm
A cartoon with Al Gore’s face on the worm in the apple wouldn’t be out of line.