The 2026 Apple shareholders meeting has again predictably gone the board's way, with shareholders agreeing to re-elect the existing board, pay them well, and ignore a proposal about China.

The 2026 Apple Annual Meeting of Shareholders occurred on Tuesday, giving stock owners the opportunity to have their say on corporate matters. As usual, the shareholders are allowing Apple to continue operating how it wants, with no unexpected decisions being made.

Announced in early January, the February 24 meeting dealt with a total of five proposals for voting. Four are typical corporate governance topics, including elections and compensation matters, while the fifth was about China.

1. Election of Directors - For

The first proposal on the docket was the election of directors. The Apple board had nominated Wanda Austin, Tim Cook, Alex Gorsky, Andrea Jung, Art Levinson, Monica Lozano, Ron Sugar, and Sue Wagner to be on the board for the next year, until the 2027 shareholder meeting.

Apple's board obviously recommended shareholders vote for the re-election of the group. Shareholders agreed, keeping the group in charge of the company.

2. Accounting Ratification - For

The second was the reappointment of Ernst & Young LLP to serve as Apple's independent registered public accounting firm. This includes being the auditors of Apple's consolidated financial statements for 2026.

Apple's board recommended a "For" vote. The shareholders obliged.

Interestingly, the report also lists the fees Apple paid Ernst & Young for audits. In 2024, this was $30.27 million, rising to $34.28 million in 2025.

3. Executive Compensation - For

The third proposal was a vote on executive compensation, or how much Tim Cook and others get paid for running the company. This covers wages and the issuing of shares, which are usually vested over time.

For 2025, the report states Tim Cook's total target compensation was $59 million, including a $3 million base salary, a $6 million cash incentive, and $50 million in target equity awards.

The total compensation package to Cook in 2025 was $74.3 million, including $1.76 million that included a 401K contribution of $21,000, $2,964 in life insurance premiums, a $57,692 vacation cash-out, $789,991 in personal air travel expenses, and $887,870 in security expenses.

Once again, the board recommended it gets paid, and the shareholders agreed.

4. Non-Employee Director Stock Plan - For

Number four on the list was a request to approve the Apple Non-Employee Director Stock Plan as amended and restated. In short, this is to provide compensation to individuals who are on the board, but are not employees of Apple itself.

Once more, the board recommended a "For" vote, and got it.

5. China Entanglement Audit - Against

The fifth and only shareholder-created proposal was titled the "China Entanglement Audit." Submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research, the group wanted to determine how bad much of a risk Apple's presence in China was to shareholders.

The proposal discusses the various risks, including the high 145% import tariff applied to China in 2025 by the United States.

There are also concerns that manufacturing expansion in India and Vietnam are potentially a problem, since they rely on Chinese parts. Interference is also a worry, such as if China restricts support from Chinese engineers to operations in other countries.

Chinese espionage is also apparently a problem, as is the potential loss of Chinese revenue if a conflict occurs with Taiwan. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is another issue, due to the prospect of U.S. bans disrupting the supply chain.

All of these are considered vulnerabilities by the group, and could "expose Apple to additional litigation risk" if they were not sufficiently disclosed.

Apple's board opposed the measure, recommending an Against vote from shareholders. It said that the requested report was unnecessary, since it already doles out extensive details about its international operations.

The board added that the proposal was "highly prescriptive" and was an attempt to restrict Apple's ability to manage its own business operations.

The voters sided with the board, voting against the proposal.