Apple Tells Investors: We Need You!

In a move divergent from its previous positions vis-à-vis shareholder responsibility, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has enlisted pension fund CalPERS to help carry through investor voting rights reforms at its annual general meeting later this month. CalPERS, or the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is known as the largest public pension fund in the country and own a 0.25 percent stake in Apple for a total worth of $1.1 billion.

However, the fund has been a fairly fierce critic of Apple’s corporate governance policies, while the iPhone maker has opposed requests of greater shareholder responsibility from it, Financial Times said.

But Apple is now hoping to use the fund’s sway to lobby other big shareholders on the vote to change the way its board directors are elected. Under the current system, Apple shareholders can only withhold votes from a director, rather than actively vote against a nominee. As the Financial Times explained, if the nominee is unopposed, only a single vote in favor is required to retain the post.