Activist investor Carl Icahn broadens animal welfare campaign at Kroger

March 29, 2022

(Reuters) -Kroger Co said on Tuesday Carl Icahn nominated two directors to the supermarket chain’s board, as the billionaire investor expands his campaign for corporate America to tackle environmental, social and governance issues.

A month after taking on McDonald’s Corp over the treatment of pigs, at Kroger Icahn is expanding the battle beyond animal welfare and tackling what he calls “egregious wage gaps” between the company’s chief executive and cashiers, stock clerks and others.

The activist investor wrote a letter to Kroger’s Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen on Tuesday, pointing out the supermarket chain’s inability to create policies concerning animal welfare and criticizing its wage disparities.

Commenting on animal welfare concerns, Kroger said it was not directly involved in raising or processing of any animals.

Icahn nominated Alexis Fox and Margarita Paláu-Hernández to stand for election to Kroger’s board, during the company’s 2022 annual meeting.

Fox is the co-founder of Lighter, a startup that focuses on plant-based diet, while Paláu-Hernández is the founder and chief executive at Hernandez Ventures, a private firm involved in Spanish-language media, business and real estate ventures.

Icahn previously made a similar push at McDonald’s in February, nominating two members to its board in an escalating fight over the treatment of pigs by the burger chain’s suppliers.

Earlier this month, Icahn called on McDonald’s to make a global pledge to eliminate the use of metal enclosures to house pregnant pigs.

(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh and Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru and Svea Herbst in Boston; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)