Apple shareholders get bigger say

Apple Inc. on Thursday adopted a measure long desired by investors and corporate governance activists, granting shareholders a bigger say in the appointment of directors to the board of the world's most valuable technology company.

Chief executive Tim Cook also repeated he has been "thinking very deeply" about investors' demands that the consumer electronics company return some of its $98 billion in cash and securities to shareholders via a dividend.

Wall Street has bet on the rising likelihood some of that enormous war chest could be doled out this year, since Cook told investors last week discussions around that hoard had intensified.

"We've been thinking about cash very deeply," he said, echoing previous comments. "Frankly speaking, it's more than we need to run the company."

At its annual shareholders meeting in Cupertino, Calif., Apple finally acceded to demands from U.S. pension fund Calpers and other major investors that it require unopposed directors to secure a majority-share vote before getting elected to the board.

That move came after shareholders last year, in a rare show of activism for a group often content with the iPad and iPhone maker's sizzling growth and lofty share price, voted in favor of a similar proposal -- despite Apple's recommendation they reject it.

Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell said the company had previously resisted the change because it creates legal complications.

The meeting came days after Apple shares touched a lifetime high of $526.29, cementing the company's ranking as the most valuable one in the United States, with more than $450 billion in market capitalization.

Away from its gadgets and bottom line, CEO Cook continues to grapple with negative publicity surrounding accusations of inhumane working conditions at the company's manufacturing partners in China.

No shareholder broached allegations of labor abuse in China at yesterday's meeting, but some said afterward they wanted Apple to improve the treatment of workers in its supply chain.