Microsoft has released its proxy statement ahead of its annual shareholders meeting in December. In it, the company’s board of directors advises shareholders to vote against two proposals for independent reports to be conducted into Microsoft’s military contracts.
Proposal four, submitted by Boston Common Asset Management and Impact Investors, concerns the ethics of how the US government uses Microsoft’s technology. Proposal five, submitted by Harrington Investments, cites the potential impacts of being involved with development of weapons for the US military.
Both proposals include statements made publicly by Microsoft employees about their disagreement on involvement with military contracts.
Proposal four specifically raises concerns with Microsoft’s HoloLens technology in Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) and the company’s bid for a 10-year, $10bn contract with the Department of Defense for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI). Both of these contracts were protested by employees in open letters, which seemingly fell on deaf ears.