Legendary investor Carl Icahn issued a letter to McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) shareholders Thursday, in which he slammed the company’s top ranks and asset management firms for their environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) policies, citing “the biggest hypocrisy of our time.”
The letter marks the latest saga in Icahn’s battle with McDonald’s over the company’s treatment of pregnant pigs. The American financier is striving to include two new board seats to add nominees who share Icahn’s views that all Mcdonald’s U.S. suppliers should move to crate-free pork.
In his letter, Icahn called out asset managers, banks and lawyers from Wall Street, saying they are taking advantage of ESG investing to make a profit instead of supporting “tangible societal progress.”
“The reality is that if the ESG movement is to be more than a marketing concept and fundraising tool, the massive asset managers who are among McDonald’s’ largest owners must back up their words with actions,” Icahn wrote.
McDonald’s biggest three shareholders include State Street’s asset management arm, The Vanguard Group, and BlackRock (NYSE:BLK).
Moreover, Icahn said that the compensation among McDonald’s top managers and firms is “unconscionable,” adding that the fast-food chain’s board was overlooking injustice on several occasions.
“Perhaps if the Company’s executives applied the same effort to getting their suppliers to become completely gestation crate-free as they do to obtaining rich compensation packages, we would not be having this election contest,” he said.
In a response to his letter, McDonald’s said it sources just around 1% of U.S. pork production, adding that Icahn’s demands from McDonald’s and other companies are “completely unfeasible.”
The fast-food giant said its U.S. pork supply will be crate-free by the end of 2024, compared to its initial target of 2022 the company set ten years ago. McDonald’s said the coronavirus pandemic and African Swine Fever were the primary reasons for the delay.
By Senad Karaahmetovic