Judge Blocks Vote on Proposal 2 at Next Week's Apple Shareholder Meeting

152516 apple logoA judge has decided to block a vote on Question 2 at Apple's annual shareholder's meeting next week, according to a report from Reuters.

Hedge fund Greenlight Capital, a major shareholder of Apple stock, filed a lawsuit earlier this month asking that Apple be prevented from bundling a number of proposals into one ballot question at the shareholders meeting. The firm argued that the bundling of three separate corporate governance proposals into one question was in violation of SEC rules.

A judge handed hedge fund star David Einhorn a victory in his court battle with Apple Inc on Friday, blocking the iPhone maker from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock.

Proposal 2 contains language relating to the term of office of the board of directors, language about the board's ability to issue preferred shares of AAPL stock without shareholder approval, and the establishment of a par value for the company's common stock.

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the lawsuit a "silly sideshow" and "a waste of money for all involved", but the judge presiding over the case disagreed. Apple issued a statement in early January saying it was in "active discussions" about ways to return cash to shareholders as Greenlight head David Einhorn has requested.

Update: AllThingsD has the text of the judge's ruling.

Update 2: Apple has withdrawn Proposal No. 2 from its proxy statement, issuing this statement:

We are disappointed with the court’s ruling. Proposal #2 is part of our efforts to further enhance corporate governance and serve our shareholders’ best interests. Unfortunately, due to today’s decision, shareholders will not be able to vote on Proposal #2 at our annual meeting next week.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...

Top Rated Comments

komodrone Avatar
167 months ago
can someone explain to me like a 9 year old on what the hell is going on?

how about explain it to me like a 5 year old?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MTL18 Avatar
167 months ago
http://dealbreaker.com/2013/02/david-einhorn-wants-apple-to-issue-pretty-much-all-the-preferred-stock-in-the-world/



basically Einhorn thinks Apple should worth much more than it is right now. In order to reflect that he wants Apple to issue a ton of prefer stocks. Apple thinks that is crazy.

I found this report interesting. The investors and banksters that sent us into 2008 now want to tell the most valuable company in the world (that built it's value during their recession) what to do? And a judge says .... sure...

What a piece of junk system! My 0.02
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SeattleMoose Avatar
167 months ago
The best judicial decision money can buy. The sharks see the pile of cash and will do anything to get it. Einhorn represents everything that is wrong with our financial system. Pretending to be doing this on "behalf of the shareholders". As a shareholder I would much rather have Apple control what they do with THEIR money than some sleazy shark....
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ouimetnick Avatar
167 months ago
This is what I got from reading the article.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MTL18 Avatar
167 months ago
can someone explain to me like a 9 year old on what the hell is going on?

how about explain it to me like a 5 year old?

In as simple of wording as possible - Apple tried to use some trickery on a shareholders vote. A judge deemed it a no go, as it violated rules of the securities and exchanges commission (SEC).
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Squilly Avatar
167 months ago
It's clear Apple doesn't like to lose...

----------

can someone explain to me like a 9 year old on what the hell is going on?

how about explain it to me like a 5 year old?

Apple was sued and lost.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)