Carl Icahn Pushes McDonald’s to Change Way It Sources Its Pork (Published 2022) (2024)

The billionaire investor Carl Icahn began his battle with McDonald’s in his usual fashion — buying a small stake in the company and then pushing his own candidates for its board. But what’s different this time is the issue — better treatment for the pigs whose meat goes into McDonald’s sausage patties and other pork products.

On Sunday, McDonald’s confirmed that Mr. Icahn, who it says owns 200 shares in the restaurant chain, had nominated two people to its board over the matter — in what is likely to be the start of a bitter, and peculiar, contest.

Unlike the typical target of corporate agitators, McDonald’s has done well, with its shares climbing more than 18 percent over the past 12 months to give it a market capitalization of $187 billion. And while Mr. Icahn’s stake in the company is small, activist investors with social causes have had recent success on small stakes, like Engine Capital’s board victory at Exxon Mobil last year over its climate strategy.

Mr. Icahn’s two board candidates are Leslie Samuelrich and Maisie Ganzler, according to McDonald’s. Ms. Samuelrich is the president of Green Century Capital Management, an investment fund with a sustainable energy focus, according to her LinkedIn profile. Ms. Ganzler is chief strategy and brand officer at Bon Appétit Management Company, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Mr. Icahn is arguing that McDonald’s has not fully lived up to its commitment to change the way in sources its pork. McDonald’s in 2012 pledged to phase out the use of so-called gestational crates, the tiny stalls in which sows are housed while pregnant. Animal rights advocates have singled out the crates, known as sow stalls, as inhumane.

Mr. Icahn told The Wall Street Journal this month that the company’s pork producers were moving sows only once they are four to six weeks into their 16-week pregnancies. He said his campaign was inspired by his daughter, a vegetarian animal lover.