Apple’s annual shareholders meeting won’t take place on the Apple Park campus this year as it ordinarily would. With the COVID-19 pandemic dragging on, it’ll be a virtual-only event in 2021. This is likely to increase participation in the February 23 meeting. And if you own AAPL shares, you can attend.
Here’s what you need to do.
Caveat: Before you get started, you must have owned Apple shares as of December 28, 2020, to take part. You can’t pick up one share on Monday, tune into the meeting on Tuesday, then sell the stock Wednesday.
Also, it’s possible you already gave proxy rights to your broker to vote on your behalf without noticing. If so, you could be out of luck on attending.
How to virtually attend Apple 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders
This is the first time Apple has held an online shareholders meeting, and so it went with a third-party website made by Broadridge Financial Solutions to host the event. Shareholders will need to go to www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/AAPL2021 on Tuesday, February 23, at 9 a.m. Pacific to attend virtually.
Getting into the meeting requires a unique control number that will also allow voting. You should have received a note about this from your broker, bank or whatever organization holds your Apple shares. If you didn’t, you have a couple of days to contact them.
Don‘t expect huge revelations
Even though the event happens this week, there’s been little news about it. Generally, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other high-level executives use the annual shareholders meeting to go over the products released in the previous year, like the latest iPhones and Macs.
Occasionally, activist investors try to convince other shareholders to make Apple change in some way. In the past, activists have proposed the iPhone-maker stop cooperating with the Chinese government. There have been attempts in the past to make Apple halt efforts to combat climate change. However, if anything controversial is on the docket for the Apple 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, it’s not made the news yet.
Still, the questions shareholders ask Apple executives after the presentation are often the most interesting part of the meeting. Not that Cook and Co. are likely to make any startling announcements. Someone is sure to ask about the Apple car or Apple glasses and be politely told some version of “no comment.”
If you aren’t an AAPL shareholder, you won’t miss out. Cult of Mac will cover any news from Tuesday’s event.
