(Bloomberg) -- Carl Icahn will end a proxy fight focused on the treatment of pregnant pigs at grocery-chain Kroger Co. after losing a similar battle with McDonald’s Corp. last month, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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The activist investor intends to send a letter to the boards of both Kroger and McDonald’s conceding the fight Monday, saying that the financial performances of the two mean that shareholders are less likely to support his efforts to improve the treatment of animals by the companies, the person said.
The dispute revolves around the practice of keeping sows in individual pens so small that they can’t lie down or turn around. Icahn had sought to nominate board members to McDonald’s and Kroger as a way to force their pork suppliers to end the practice. His McDonald’s nominees lost in a shareholder vote last month.
Still, Icahn said he doesn’t believe the companies’ boards are holding management accountable for their treatment of animals and employees.
It is “unconscionable” that it will take an average employee at the companies multiple years to make what their chief executive officers earn in one day, according to the letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
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