Billionaire investor Carl Icahn launches a battle for 2 board seats at McDonald’s after slamming the fast-food chain for its treatment of pregnant pigs

• McDonald’s confirmed that Carl Icahn has nominated two people to its board, launching a proxy battle. 
• The announcement comes after Icahn slammed the company for its use of gestation crates for pigs in its supply chain. 
• McDonald’s cited “industry-wide challenges for farmers and producers” as barriers to fully ending the practice.

Carl Icahn has started a proxy battle for two seats on the McDonald’s board, the fast-food chain confirmed on Sunday. 

The billionaire investor nominated Leslie Samuelrich and Maisie Ganzler, who will stand for election at the company’s 2022 annual meeting. The announcement comes after Icahn slammed McDonald’s earlier in the week for failing to end the use of gestation crates for pregnant pigs in its supply chain, a practice he told Bloomberg causes “unnecessary suffering.”

“Mr. Icahn’s stated focus in making this nomination relates to a narrow issue regarding the Company’s pork commitment, which The Humane Society US has already introduced through a shareholder proposal,” McDonald’s said in a statement shared with Insider. “This is an issue on which McDonald’s has been a leader.”

While McDonald’s initially pledged to mandate pork suppliers end the use of gestation crates for pregnant sows — a practice animal rights groups and activists have long decried as inhumane — by the end of a 10-year period culminating in 2022, the company has come up short on its goals.

In its statement, McDonald’s said the company is on track to source 85% to 90% of its US pork supply from sows not housed in gestation crates during pregnancy by the end of this year, with an adjusted forecast of reaching 100% by the end of 2024.

McDonald’s cited “industry-wide challenges for farmers and producers, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and global swine disease outbreaks” as barriers to fully ending the practice.

“While the Company looks forward to promoting further collaboration across the industry on this issue, the current pork supply in the U.S. would make this type of commitment impossible.”

Representatives for Carl Icahn did not immediately respond to a request to comment from Insider, though the investor told Bloomberg TV earlier this week that he intends to push on the issue “as much as we can.”

Icahn’s known to take large positions in public companies before agitating for change. In the case of McDonald’s, Icahn has just 200 shares, worth about $50,000, according to the company.