| Advertisement |
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is putting his money where his mouth is -- sort of. The longtime Wall Street player is pressing fast food chain McDonald's to be more humane to pigs by requiring that all its U.S.-based pork suppliers stop keeping the animals in gestation stalls -- which are crates that house pregnant pigs, and are often so small that there isn't enough room for the sows to turn around.
Advertisement
Icahn, who owns about $50,000 worth of McDonald's stock, has attempted to further the effort by nominating two new members to the company's board.
"McDonald's can confirm that Carl Icahn has nominated Leslie Samuelrich and Maisie Ganzler to stand for election at the 2022 annual meeting," the company said in a statement Sunday.
"Mr. Icahn's stated focus in making this nomination relates to a narrow issue regarding the Company's pork commitment, which The Humane Society U.S. has already introduced through a shareholder proposal. This is an issue on which McDonald's has been a leader."
Samuelrich is president of Green Century Capital Management and Ganzler is chief strategy and brand officer of Bon Appetit.
Icahn says that McDonald's hasn't lived up to its 2012 commitment to phase out the use of gestational crates.
McDonald's said that it intends to source between 85% and 90% of its U.S. pork from sows not housed in gestation crates by the end of this year. It expects that figure to reach 100% by 2024.
The fast food chain added, however, that all of Icahn's goals are not achievable.
"Despite McDonald's progress, Mr. Icahn has instead asked for new commitments, including to require all of McDonald's U.S. pork suppliers to move to 'crate free' pork, and set specific time frames for doing so," it said. "While the company looks forward to promoting further collaboration across the industry on this issue, the current pork supply in the U.S. would make this type of commitment impossible."
Like other major fast food companies, McDonald's has begun to introduce meatless products in recent years.
Last fall, McDonald's began testing its McPlant burger at select locations in the United States. Analysts said last month that sales of the McPlant have been better than expected, underscoring a demand for meatless items at chains like McDonald's and Burger King.
Icahn, 86, has an estimated net worth of about $20 billion and is considered a Wall Street pioneer. He is said to have inspired the lead character Gordon Gekko, portrayed by Michael Douglas, in the 1987 film Wall Street. Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.
