Icahn’s Board Fight at McDonald’s Pivots on Pigs in Tight Crates
The activist investor seeks two board seats, fighting the chain’s animal-welfare policy that critics say can still keep some sows confined in tight pens
Icahn criticized McDonald’s in a Feb. 16 interview as he prepared to nominate directors for its board
With Carl Icahn teaming up with the Humane Society of the United States, McDonald’s Corp. is now facing the most high-profile attack on its animal-welfare policies to date.
Over the weekend, the activist investor proposed two new board members for McDonald’s, escalating his demands that the company force its pork suppliers to stop keeping sows in individual pens so small they can’t lie down or turn around. The burger chain’s board responded that it expects that, by the end of the year, 85% to 90% of its U.S. pork will come from “sows not housed in gestation crates during pregnancy.”