McDonald’s Shareholders Vote Down Carl Icahn’s Activist Board Slate

Shareholders Thursday re-elected the company’s full 12-member board,

McDonald’s

said. Mr.

Icahn’s

selected nominees,

Maisie Ganzler,

an executive at food-service provider Bon Appétit Management Co., and

Leslie Samuelrich,

president at mutual-fund firm Green Century Capital Management, received votes representing around 1% of the company’s shares outstanding, the company said, citing a preliminary tally.

Mr. Icahn didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. McDonald’s said it appreciated its shareholders’ engagement, and said that the company aimed to lead on environmental and social issues initiatives, including animal welfare. McDonald’s said it invited Mr. Icahn to speak on behalf of his nominees during the meeting, but he declined to do so.

Some investors and analysts had viewed Mr. Icahn’s animal-rights campaign as a long shot, given it differed from his typical activist battles, and his McDonald’s stake was relatively small, worth roughly $50,000. Proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. both advised McDonald’s shareholders to vote against Mr. Icahn’s board slate.

Animal rights activists are still counting the campaign as a win, saying Mr. Icahn’s name drew more attention to the issue of pork gestation housing than it had received in years.

Pork producers, buyers and animal rights activists have long been at odds over the proper way to house pregnant sows, which many hog farmers currently hold in enclosures called gestation crates. Hog farmers have said that the crates protect hogs’ health by preventing sows, which can be naturally aggressive, from harming each other. Banning the crates also would raise meat prices by requiring farmers to spend millions of dollars changing their operations, farmers have said.

Animal welfare proponents have said the crates barely give sows room to turn around or walk. Groups like the Humane Society of the U.S. in 2012 pushed companies to phase out the crates, with some businesses committing to do so by 2022. The group took businesses like McDonald’s and other restaurant chains to task this year.

The animal rights group that backed Mr. Icahn’s efforts has mounted similar campaigns at a number of other food companies. Five companies have faced shareholder proposals pertaining to pork handling this year, the most on an annual basis since at least 2004, according to an analysis by investment research firm

Morningstar Inc.

“I believe this issue and other concerns about the treatment of animals in the food industry will gain more traction with investors,” said

Jackie Cook,

Morningstar’s director of sustainable stewardship research.

Some food companies agreed to make new pork housing commitments this year.

The

Cheesecake Factory Inc.

earlier this week said it would shift 75% of its U.S. pork supply to be produced without gestation crates by the end of this year.

Conagra Brands Inc.

and

Denny’s Corp.

also updated their plans focused on hog housing in their pork supplies, the companies said.

Papa John’s International Inc.

last month narrowly defeated a proposal requiring the company to issue a report on the use of gestation crates in the pizza chain’s pork supply. Shareholders voted down other pork supply proposals by a greater margin at

Wendy’s Co.

and

Dine Brands Global Inc.,

filings show.

Mr. Icahn began pushing McDonald’s to eliminate the crates roughly a decade ago at the behest of his daughter,

Michelle Icahn Nevin,

who was then working on the issue at the Humane Society of the U.S. McDonald’s pledged in 2012 to stop buying pork from suppliers who use the crates by 2022.

McDonald’s in February said it expects to source 85% to 90% of its U.S. pork from sows not housed in gestation crates during pregnancy by the end of the year. By the end of 2024, it said, it expects that all of its U.S. pork will come from sows housed in groups during pregnancy.

The company said its pork purchases represent roughly 1% of annual U.S. pork production, and McDonald’s doesn’t itself own any hogs or pork-processing facilities.

Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com

Shareholders Thursday re-elected the company’s full 12-member board,

McDonald’s

said. Mr.

Icahn’s

selected nominees,

Maisie Ganzler,

an executive at food-service provider Bon Appétit Management Co., and

Leslie Samuelrich,

president at mutual-fund firm Green Century Capital Management, received votes representing around 1% of the company’s shares outstanding, the company said, citing a preliminary tally.

Mr. Icahn didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. McDonald’s said it appreciated its shareholders’ engagement, and said that the company aimed to lead on environmental and social issues initiatives, including animal welfare. McDonald’s said it invited Mr. Icahn to speak on behalf of his nominees during the meeting, but he declined to do so.

Some investors and analysts had viewed Mr. Icahn’s animal-rights campaign as a long shot, given it differed from his typical activist battles, and his McDonald’s stake was relatively small, worth roughly $50,000. Proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. both advised McDonald’s shareholders to vote against Mr. Icahn’s board slate.

Animal rights activists are still counting the campaign as a win, saying Mr. Icahn’s name drew more attention to the issue of pork gestation housing than it had received in years.

Pork producers, buyers and animal rights activists have long been at odds over the proper way to house pregnant sows, which many hog farmers currently hold in enclosures called gestation crates. Hog farmers have said that the crates protect hogs’ health by preventing sows, which can be naturally aggressive, from harming each other. Banning the crates also would raise meat prices by requiring farmers to spend millions of dollars changing their operations, farmers have said.

Animal welfare proponents have said the crates barely give sows room to turn around or walk. Groups like the Humane Society of the U.S. in 2012 pushed companies to phase out the crates, with some businesses committing to do so by 2022. The group took businesses like McDonald’s and other restaurant chains to task this year.

The animal rights group that backed Mr. Icahn’s efforts has mounted similar campaigns at a number of other food companies. Five companies have faced shareholder proposals pertaining to pork handling this year, the most on an annual basis since at least 2004, according to an analysis by investment research firm

Morningstar Inc.

“I believe this issue and other concerns about the treatment of animals in the food industry will gain more traction with investors,” said

Jackie Cook,

Morningstar’s director of sustainable stewardship research.

Some food companies agreed to make new pork housing commitments this year.

The

Cheesecake Factory Inc.

earlier this week said it would shift 75% of its U.S. pork supply to be produced without gestation crates by the end of this year.

Conagra Brands Inc.

and

Denny’s Corp.

also updated their plans focused on hog housing in their pork supplies, the companies said.

Papa John’s International Inc.

last month narrowly defeated a proposal requiring the company to issue a report on the use of gestation crates in the pizza chain’s pork supply. Shareholders voted down other pork supply proposals by a greater margin at

Wendy’s Co.

and

Dine Brands Global Inc.,

filings show.

Mr. Icahn began pushing McDonald’s to eliminate the crates roughly a decade ago at the behest of his daughter,

Michelle Icahn Nevin,

who was then working on the issue at the Humane Society of the U.S. McDonald’s pledged in 2012 to stop buying pork from suppliers who use the crates by 2022.

McDonald’s in February said it expects to source 85% to 90% of its U.S. pork from sows not housed in gestation crates during pregnancy by the end of the year. By the end of 2024, it said, it expects that all of its U.S. pork will come from sows housed in groups during pregnancy.

The company said its pork purchases represent roughly 1% of annual U.S. pork production, and McDonald’s doesn’t itself own any hogs or pork-processing facilities.

Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com