Procter & Gamble Declares Victory in Proxy Battle; Peltz Says, Not So Fast<br />In an interview on CNBC shortly after the meeting was adjourned, Mr. Peltz said the vote was “as close<br />to a dead heat as possible,” suggesting the totals were “plus or minus one percentage point.”<br />Mr. Peltz said the tallies he had seen from his proxy solicitor earlier in the morning showed that he was in the lead.<br />In a news release put out shortly after the meeting ended, Mr. Peltz, whose firm owns $3.5 billion worth of Procter<br />& Gamble stock, said he would await certified election results by the independent inspector of elections.<br />“I think the vote suggests shareholders are willing to trust David Taylor — for now,” said Ali Dibadj, an analyst at Bernstein Research, adding<br />that the company would lose credibility with its shareholders and others if the turnaround didn’t materialize soon.<br />In a conference call with investors and analysts after the meeting, Mr. Taylor said he had not seen the percentages behind the preliminary totals,<br />but believed the company’s message had resonated with the large base of small retail investors.
