The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders October 11, 2022 12:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Jon Moeller – Chairman, President and CEO
Susan Whaley – Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
John Chevalier – SVP, IR
Conference Call Participants
Operator
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Virtual P&G Annual Shareholders Meeting. In order to handle our business expeditiously, and provide time for shareholder questions, we’ve established a few simple rules about the conduct of the meeting. A copy of the agenda and guidelines for the conduct of the meeting are available on the welcome screen. We ask that you cooperate in following these guidelines. In fairness to all shareholders, we intend to enforce the rules.
Shareholders of record and proxy holders who provide their valid control number will be able to ask questions during the meeting, by either calling the telephone number on your screen, or by typing and submitting the question, using the, Ask a Question box in the lower left portion of your screen. Questions pertinent to meeting matters will be answered during the meeting as time allows. If we receive substantially similar written questions, we may group such questions together and provide a single response to avoid repetition. If we are unable to respond to a shareholder’s properly submitted question due to time constraints, we will respond directly to that shareholder using the contact information provided.
Please be aware that the presentation today will contain references to some non-GAAP financial measures. The required reconciliations to GAAP numbers can be found on the company’s website, at www.pginvestor.com.
The remarks and responses here today may also contain statements about our future business prospects, or a discussion of factors that could cause the company’s actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements. Please see the company’s most recent 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K reports, which are also available on the company’s website.
Jon Moeller
Good afternoon. I’m Jon Moeller, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Procter and Gamble Company. I’d like to welcome everyone to P&G’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Thank you for joining our virtual annual meeting, and thank you for your long term investment in our company.
The meeting is now called to order. Notice of the meeting was sent to each shareholder of record and a quorum is present online or by proxy.
Now I’d like to get started with introductions. Joining me today are Andre Schulten, our Chief Financial Officer, and Susan Street Whaley, our Chief Legal Officer and Secretary. The members of our Board of Directors and our Director nominees have also joined our meeting today. I’ll introduce them individually.
Marc Allen, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at The Boeing Company.
Angela Braly, former Chair of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of WellPoint, Inc. Angela is the Chair of the Governance and Public Responsibility Committee.
Amy Chang, former Executive Vice President and Executive Advisor at Cisco Systems, and Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Accompany, Inc.
Joe Jimenez, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Aditum Bio, and the former Chief Executive Officer of Novartis. Joe is our Lead Independent Director.
Christopher Kempczinski, President and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s Corporation.
Debra Lee, Chair of Leading Women Defined Foundation and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BET Networks.
Terry Lundgren, former Operating Partner of Long-Term Private Capital, and former Executive Chairman, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Macy’s. Terry is the Chair of the Compensation and Leadership Development Committee.
Christine McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Walt Disney Company.
Rajesh Subramaniam, President and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Corporation. Raj is a Director Nominee, and we believe that his significant global experience in marketing and operations, including leadership of continued digital transformation at FedEx, will enable him to provide valuable insight and perspective to the Board. We’re very glad that Raj has agreed to join the Board pending his election by our shareholders.
Pat Woertz, former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Archer Daniels Midland Company. Pat is the Chair of our Audit Committee.
We also have a number of other P&G senior officers attending the meeting today. Also joining us are Joe Ucuzoglu and Christopher Cooper of Deloitte and Touche. Joe is the Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte and the Senior Advisory Partner on the P&G account. Chris is the partner responsible for all services provided to P&G and he directly supervised the audit of the company’s fiscal 2022 financial statements. They have joined the meeting and are available in the event that there are questions that are more appropriately answered by the auditors.
As Chair I appointed Peter Descovich of Broadridge Financial Solutions as the Inspector of Election for this meeting. He will supervise the voting.
Finally, we have John Chevalier, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. John will assist me today by reading the questions that you submit through the online system.
I now declare the polls are open. The polls will close after the report on the business. We will proceed first with the Election of Directors. All directors elected at this meeting will hold the office for a one year term until the 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, and until their successors are elected. In order to be elected, a director must receive more for votes than against. If you would like to vote your shares now, please follow the directions on the screen in the vote here section at the bottom of your screen. If you’ve already voted there’s no need to take any action now unless you want to change your vote.
I’ll now ask Susan Whaley to place a nomination the 11 nominees.
Susan Whaley
The Board of Directors, acting upon the recommendation of the Governance and Public Responsibility Committee nominates the following 11 individuals for election as Directors to hold office until the annual meeting in 2023, and until their successors are elected. Marc Allen, Angela Braly, Amy Chang, Joe Jimenez, Chris Kempczinski, Debra Lee, Terry Lundgren, , Christine McCarthy, Jon Moeller, Raj Subramaniam, and Pat Woertz.
Jon Moeller
All of the nominees except Raj are current members of the Board of Directors. We’re grateful to have such skilled and experienced nominees. P&G operates in a dynamic, complex and competitive environment and markets around the globe. Our Directors must bring broad strategic insight and seasoned judgment to their critical oversight role.
Collectively, our Director Nominees have worked as global business leaders, as stewards of significant financial operations, as governance professionals, and as strategic innovators across a variety of industries. We’re also pleased that 45% of our nominees are women and 45% identify as ethnically or racially diverse.
We can take up to three questions or comments on this and other items of business. John, do we have any questions related to the Election of Directors?
John Chevalier
Jon, there are no questions on the election of directors.
Jon Moeller
The Board recommends a vote for each of these nominees. We believe that each of them has valuable skills and experiences to help serve our company and shareholders.
We will now proceed to the Board proposals. The first proposal is to ratify the appointment of Deloitte and Touche as an Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. This proposal appears on page 74 of the proxy statement. Although the Board of Directors is not required to submit this matter to shareholders, we believe it’s important that you have a say in the appointment of the independent public accounting firm.
John, were there any questions or comments submitted on this item?
John Chevalier
Jon, there were no questions submitted on this item.
Jon Moeller
The Board of Directors recommends a vote for this resolution. The Board believes that the retention of Deloitte and Touche as the company’s independent external auditor is in the best interest of the company and its shareowners.
Next, we have the Board proposal for an advisory vote on executive compensation, otherwise known as say on pay. The proposal appears on page 75 of the proxy statements. John, are there any comments or questions?
John Chevalier
Yes, Jon. There’s a question related to the ESG performance factor. Question is why did executives receive an increase in their star award payments based on ESG performance when the company continues to receive scrutiny and criticism for its sourcing practices?
Jon Moeller
Thank you for that question. Our fundamental objective with executive comp is to create value for shareholders at leadership levels on a consistent long term basis. We design competitive compensation programs that are performance-driven. The majority of our compensation for top executives is tied to company performance.
On the ESG factor, we’ve linked a portion of executive compensation to our ESG progress. This was based on progress towards several D&I and sustainability targets and ambitions outlined in our Citizenship Report.
Thanks, John. Next question?
John Chevalier
There are no further questions.
Jon Moeller
All right. This concludes the review and discussion of the Board proposals. The polls will close on these proposals after the report of the business.
I’d like to — before we get to the report on the business, I’d like to announce that the Board of Directors has declared P&G’s quarterly dividend. The dividend of $0.9133 per share, will be payable on or after November 15, 2022 to common stock shareholders of record at the close of business on October 21, 2022, and to preferred stock shareholders of record at the start of business on October 1, 2022.
P&G has been paying a dividend for 132 consecutive years, ever since the company was incorporated in 1890. And we’ve increased the dividend for 66 consecutive years. We’re committed to returning cash to you, our shareowners.
We will now move on to the report of the business and the question-and-answer session. We’ll take questions from shareholders through the, Ask a Question box on the online portal or on the phone line listed on your screen both of which are now open.
First, I would like to share a recorded report on the business.
Fiscal 2022 was another very strong year. The execution of our integrated strategies continued to yield strong sales, earnings and cash results in an incredibly difficult operating environment. Organic sales grew 7%, core earnings per share grew 3%. Currency neutral core earnings per share were up 5%, and adjusted free cash flow productivity was 93%.
Organic sales growth of 7% continued our strong topline momentum. Sales were up 13% on a two-year stack across fiscal years 2021 and 2022, and up 19% on a three-year stack across the last three fiscal years. Growth this past fiscal year was broad-based, with all 10 of our categories growing organic sales. Focus markets grew 5% and enterprise markets were up 10%.
E-commerce sales increased 11%, representing 14% of total company sales. Global aggregate market share increased 50 basis points. 38 of our top 50 category country combinations held or grew share for the year. Nine of ten product categories grew share globally over the past fiscal year.
We returned nearly $19 billion of value to shareowners through $8.8 billion in dividends and $10 billion in share repurchase. In April we announced a 5% increase in our dividend. This is the 66th consecutive annual dividend increase and the 132nd consecutive year in which P&G has paid a dividend. Only seven U.S. publicly traded companies have paid a dividend in more consecutive years than P&G, and only three are recognized to have increased their dividend in more consecutive years than P&G.
In summary, we met or exceeded each of our going in target ranges for fiscal year 2022. Organic sales growth, core earnings per share growth, free cash flow productivity, and cash returned to shareowners. This is strong performance in, as I said, a very difficult operating environment.
P&G employees have delivered great results over the past four years in a very challenging macro environment against very capable competition. In those four years P&G people have added more than $13 billion in annual sales, and roughly $5 billion in after tax profit, executing our integrated strategies with excellence. The progress we’ve made, and our collective commitment to our strategies give me confidence we can manage through the challenges we will continue to face.
The operational cost and currency challenges we dealt with over the last two years will continue in fiscal year 2023. And consumers are facing inflation levels not seen in the last 40 years. The best response to the uncertainties and challenges, double down on the integrated set of strategies that have been delivering very strong results; a portfolio of daily use products and categories where performance drives brand choice; superiority across product, package, brand communication, retail execution and value; productivity in everything we do; constructive disruption across the value chain in an agile, accountable and empowered organization.
These are not independent strategic choices. They reinforce and build on each other. And when executed well they lead to balanced top and bottom line growth and value creation. Our strategy starts with a focused portfolio of daily use products, many providing cleaning, health and hygiene benefits, in categories where performance drives brand choice. We know how to create value in these categories by delivering irresistibly superior propositions to consumers and our retail partners across product performance, packaging, brand communication, retail execution and value.
We continue to raise the bar on all aspects of superiority in all price tiers where we compete. We are leveraging this superiority to grow markets, and as a result P&G’s share in them as a way to sustainably build a business. Noticeable superiority is increasingly important in an inflationary environment, as consumers reassess value across all elements of their budget.
We’ve been very intentional in building a strong presence across all relevant price tiers and retail channels, so consumers have a choice of different price points and value propositions within our portfolio. For example, Tide Power PODS at about $0.50 per load. Tide PODS Original, at about $0.30 per load, or Tide Simply PODS at about $0.20 per load.
We continue to emphasize superior performance of our offerings through strong value-based messaging, in copy, on packaging and at the shelf, physical or virtual. An example from Canada Homecare, our Dawn liquid dishwashing soap promises to clean up to 2,000 more dishes than a leading competitor, allowing consumers to clean more and save more. Let’s watch.
[Audio-Visual Presentation]
Jon Moeller
Superior communications extends to multiple touchpoints, including on pack value messaging, which reaches the consumer at the point of purchase. In the UK on pack communication highlights the Fairy hand dishwashing liquid washes up to two times more than the next best-selling brand. This reinforces the extra mileage and better value of a superior performing product and drives growth. UK Fairy share’s up over a point over the last fiscal year.
Tide Ariel and Dash provide a great example of building a superior value equation for consumers and customers. For consumers Tide Ariel and Dash laundry detergents enable superior cleaning performance in cold water washing. This creates cost benefits for consumers and environmental benefits for the planet. The savings from switching from hot to cold water washing can nearly offset the cost of our liquid detergent in each load. Let’s watch an example here.
[Audio-Visual Presentation]
Jon Moeller
The superior cold water performance is a strong competitive advantage. It enables immediate energy cost savings for our consumers, and avoids the cost of rewashing, which may be unnecessary with less effective detergents. In addition, washing with cold water improves sustainability by reducing the energy required to heat water in the laundry process and by improving garment lifespans.
For customers innovations like Power PODS helped drive category growth, the only growth our retail partners care about. The strategic need to keep investing in superiority, the short term need to manage through a very challenging cost environment, and the ongoing need to drive balance top and bottom line growth, including margin expansion, underscore the importance of ongoing productivity. We remain fully committed to cost and cash productivity in all facets of our business.
Success in our highly competitive industry also requires agility that comes with a mindset of constructive disruption, a willingness to change, adapt, create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. A mindset of constructive disruption is even more important in this challenging environment.
Our organization structure yields an empowered, agile and accountable organization with little overlap or redundancy, flowing to new demands, seamlessly supporting each other to deliver against our priorities around the world. One of the most important things about our strategy, portfolio, superiority, productivity, constructive disruption, and an empowered agile and accountable organization is that it is inherently dynamic, not static. It requires being responsive to changing consumer needs and habits. It demands we serve evolving customer needs in rapidly transforming channels.
Going forward, we’ve identified four areas to be even more deliberate and intentional about, to further strengthen the execution of this strategy.
The first is supply. We’re building on a world class supply chain, adding capacity, agility, cost, efficiency and resilience for a new reality, and a new age.
The second area is environmental sustainability. We’re integrating sustainability into our product package and supply chain innovation work to develop irresistibly superior offerings for consumers that are better for the environment.
Third, we continue to build our digital acumen to drive consumer and customer preference, reduce cost, and enable rapid and efficient decision making.
Fourth, the superior employee value equation for all gender identities, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, ages and abilities, for all roles to ensure we continue to attract, retain and develop the best talent. By definition, this must include equality. To deliver a superior employee value equation, there must be something in it for everyone.
These are not new or separate strategies. They are necessary elements of focus in continuing to build superiority, and reducing cost and to enable investment and value creation and in strengthening our organization. In the evermore complex world we live in, it’s not just top and bottom line that must be delivered and balanced. We must endeavor to deliver against the needs of an increasing number of constituents. This is especially true in our citizenship efforts in environmental, social and governance, where consumer customer, employee, society and share owner expectations are growing.
Our consumers increasingly rely on us to deliver superior solutions that are sustainable. Our world requires that we do our part in this regard. This challenge is also an opportunity to extend our margin of superiority, further grow categories and create more value, all while improving our own environmental impact, enabling consumers to reduce their footprint and helping society solve some of the most pressing global challenges.
Our community impact work helps improve lives for people in difficult times, by providing clean water and donations of product, time and money to those affected by natural disasters and crises around the world. It’s also part of what employees are proud of and value in P&G. The ability to do good for the communities we live and work in helps us attract and retain the best talent. We know we increase our chances of winning when we have an equal diverse and inclusive culture that gives life to the best thoughts and ideas.
Externally we support equality and inclusion efforts, because it’s not only the right thing to do, it can also improve income and wealth equity from more people, creating more purchasing power which drives market growth.
Our foundation is our purpose values and principles, which set a high standard for each P&G person. High standards are good. They require we hold ourselves and each other accountable for results, and equally important for how we achieve those results. Serving and balancing the needs of consumers, customers, employees, society and share owners will not always be easy, but it is necessary. And those that do it best, as I expect we will, should thrive.
The integrated strategies we’ve outlined here were delivering strong results before the pandemic. They served us well during the most recent volatile times. They remain the right strategic choices to drive balanced growth and value creation.
We endeavor to step forward into the challenges we face not back growing through near term challenges while serving consumers and communities. We’re doing this in our interest, in society’s interest and in the interest of our long term shareowners.
Confidence in our future success is rooted in our confidence in P&G people. Every day P&G people demonstrate their commitment to our purpose, values and principles, their personal accountability to winning results, and their strong focus on sustained excellence in everything they do, serving consumers, serving customers and delivering for you, our shareowners.
Before we get to your questions, I now declare the polls closed. I want to thank you, our longtime shareowners for your engagement with us and your commitment to our company.
I am advised — sorry, I will now announce the preliminary voting results. I’ve been advised that each of the 11 nominees listed in the proxy statement has received more for votes than against, with each nominee receiving at least 90% support. And accordingly, each has been elected to a one year term expiring at the annual meeting in 2023 until their successors are elected.
I’m also advised that the Board proposal to ratify the appointment of the independent registered public accounting firm has been adopted with at least 94% of votes cast in favor. And finally, that the Board proposal for an advisory vote on executive compensation has been adopted, with at least 92% of votes cast in favor.
That concludes the business items on our agenda. May I have a motion to adjourn?
Susan Whaley
Motion to adjourn?
Question-and-Answer Session
A – Jon Moeller
Thank you. I now adjourn the meeting. And we’ll move on to questions or comments on other matters related to the company’s business that have not already been discussed.
We’ll take questions from shareholders through the Ask a Question box in the online portal, or on the phone line that’s listed on your screen. We’ll try to get through as many questions as possible in this 30 minute period.
Out of respect for everyone who would like to ask a question, according to the rules established for the conduct of the meeting, each shareholder is allowed two minutes. There will be a limit of three speakers on any one subject.
John, can you give us the first question?
John Chevalier
Yes, Jon. We’ve received several questions on the topic of inflation. First question is thank you for your and your team’s leadership during such a challenging time. Could you please elaborate on our strategy as it relates to the current inflationary environment and risk mitigation of rising input costs and consumer price elasticity? Thank you again.
Jon Moeller
Thanks for what is a very important question. As consumers face increased pressure on nearly every aspect of their household budgets, we are investing to deliver truly superior value. The combination of price, product performance and usage experience defines value, serves consumers and earns our loyalty every day.
Consumers want brands that get the job done and deliver great value. We aim to deliver both. As I mentioned, we continue to invest in innovation and communication, including performance based value communication. We offer superior products at various price tiers and pack sizes across a wide range of shopping channels.
From a price point standpoint, as we noted in the business review, we offer High Power PODS at about $0.50 per load, Tide PODS Originally at about $0.30 per load or Tide Simply PODS at about $0.20 per load. From a pack size standpoint, consumers can purchase 168 count of Tide PODS for about $32 in the club channel, and 81 count for about $21 in the grocery channel, and a 16 count for $5.50 in the discount channel.
We’re also trying to educate consumers on the mileage benefits of our products and the savings that accrue to them through that mileage. A good example is cascade, by running an Energy Star certified dishwasher every night with Cascade Platinum, instead of washing dishes by hand. You can save up to $130 on your energy bill each year and 140 gallons of water a week.
Next question, John.
John Chevalier
Yes, the next question relates to the dividend. With inflationary pressures, can we still count on management increasing the dividend?
Jon Moeller
We have a very simple philosophy as relates to capital allocation, and that is that the cash that we generate is not ours. It belongs to our shareholders. After making appropriate investments in the business that cash needs to come back to you our shareowners.
As I mentioned earlier, P&G has been paying a dividend for 132 consecutive years. We’ve increased that dividend for 66 consecutive years and stand in good stead to continue both trends.
Next question, John.
John Chevalier
Yes. The next question regards relief efforts. Is the company doing anything to assist with relief efforts in support of the victims of Hurricane Ian?
Jon Moeller
Thanks for the question. P&G cares deeply about the communities where we live and work. That includes Coastal Florida. We’ve deployed Tide loads of Hope vehicles to Southwest Florida. We are providing P&G products, everyday essentials to help families in need, brands like Always, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Mr. Clean and others. These actions are consistent with what we do around the world to be a force for growth and a force for good, supporting our communities and relief organizations who are critical partners. And obviously, our thoughts and prayers continue to extend to the people who’ve been impacted by this storm.
Thanks again for that question.
John Chevalier
Jon, the next question relates to reproductive healthcare. Are we still helping our employees get an abortion if the procedure is not available in a 50 mile radius? If so, what reasons contribute to management making the decision to support that policy?
Jon Moeller
We’ve had a policy for a number of years that supports employee choice on healthcare, and provides reimbursement for the cost of pursuing that healthcare outside of their home communities when that option is not available for them in their home communities. And as of the first of the year, we’ll be expanding that policy to uncover a broader range of healthcare options.
Next question?
John Chevalier
The next question relates to Russia. We have several shareholders who have asked about our operations in Russia. Could you please comment on any business activity in Russia?
Jon Moeller
Our job across the world is to provide products which meet the daily needs of people and improve their lives. We also in the process have a responsibility for the well-being of our employees.
As relates to Russia, we’ve significantly reduced our product portfolio to focus only on basic health, hygiene and personal care items needed by the many Russian families who depend on them in their daily lives. We’ve just continued all new capital investments, and suspended all media advertising and promotional activity. And we will continue to proceed at level of involvement with our Russian operations, sanction and conditions permitting?
John Chevalier
Jon, the next question relates to the stock price. Can you please explain why the stock price continues to drop?
Jon Moeller
Our stock price performance over both the last six months and one year periods reflects what’s happening in the broader market. We are roughly in line over those periods of time, with both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Index. And those market conditions, as most of us are well aware, are informed by the geopolitical situation. They continue to be informed by COVID and supply outages and shutdowns that result from that. They’re impacted by higher interest cost. And they’re affected by both currency and inflation, with consumers experiencing the highest inflation in the last 40 years.
These are difficult operating conditions. We continue to step forward into these challenges rather than backward from them. We will continue to invest in the service of consumers, customers, employees, society and shareowners. That was reflected in the last quarter of published results that you saw in the business presentation with continued strong growth on the topline, and continued commitment to productivity to drive bottom line progress and cash.
My confidence in our ability to continue to meet these challenges, results from the progress that the organization has made over an incredibly challenging three or four year period of time. And it relates to and builds from my confidence in our strategies, which have worked successfully, pre-pandemic, during pandemic and more recently. And I also view this as an incredible opportunity to continue to differentiate ourselves and through that, overtime, continue to generate appropriate returns for shareowners.
John Chevalier
Jon, the next question relates to COVID vaccine policy. How did management treat employees that did not have the COVID vaccine during the time period between President Biden issuing his COVID vaccine mandate in September 2021 and the Supreme Court striking down the COVID vaccine mandate in January 2022?
Jon Moeller
Put very simply, while the company, based on available science, strongly recommends vaccination, we have and will respect the choices of employees in this regard.
Next question, John.
Jon Moeller
Next question relates to facilities. Why did P&G move its facilities from the Blue Ash area?
Jon Moeller
Thanks for that question. Productivity is a very important part of our business model, as was described during the business review, in a brief discussion on our strategy. Those efforts are ongoing, and include effective use of our assets and facilities. We’ve consolidated a number of activities at our Mason Business Center to increase collaboration and drive synergies across business units.
Our Mason Business Center is the largest R&D — our largest R&D facility in the world. More than 2,500 P&G employees work in Mason. We have a footprint there of over 2 million square feet. We completed the expansion in 2019, and is now home to many of our beauty products as well as our healthcare products.
Thanks, John. Next question.
John Chevalier
Yes. Next question relates to trade down. We’ve received several questions actually on trade down. What fraction of our business do you expect we will lose, even temporarily, as consumers trade down to store brands from premium priced products like the ones P&G makes? When can we expect to see a meaningful trade down by consumers as the recession unfolds?
Jon Moeller
Thanks for that question. There are a lot of moving parts in the answer to that question, that are dependent on what happens in the broader economy, both in this country and others; based on what competitors choose; how competitors choose to respond to that; what happens to inflation going forward; how our customers decide to conduct their business? So I’m not going to posit a guess on exactly how that’s going to play out. It’s something that we monitor and respond to on a daily, weekly basis and will continue to do so and so far have been relatively successful.
Topline momentum remains strong, growth remains broad. We have a much better portfolio of products that allow consumers to trade down within the portfolio if that choice becomes the right one for them. That’s different. That’s a different position in then we had as we went into the last economic slowdown. And we’re working very hard to ensure that consumers understand the value proposition that our products offer, the combination of performance, value, usage experience, and the savings even that are possible by the use of our products, as opposed to other products in the category.
So we’ll continue to do that work. We’re also, as I mentioned, continuing to focus on cost productivity, that we minimize the amount of pricing that’s necessary to generate appropriate margins.
John Chevalier
Jon, the next question relates to PAC spending. We’ve combined a few together. So this is a kind of a long question. Would you please outline your rationale behind political donations? How much financial assistance does P&G as a corporation give during political elections to a party or a candidate? Specifically, do you have a position on donations to politicians or organizations who have challenged legitimacy of the most recent Presidential election results and/or failed to condemn January 6 events?
Jon Moeller
Good question. P&G’s global government relations and public policy team focuses our efforts on legislative and public policy issues that impact the company’s long term business interests. This engagement helps elevate the interests of our employees, consumers and shareowners.
Our bipartisan PAC aids [ph] to build understanding and support across a balance of Republicans and Democrats on issues critical to our business. Just one point of clarification, P&G does not contribute to presidential candidates or campaigns.
John Chevalier
John, the next question relates to strategy and improvement opportunities. Can you please tell us areas where P&G didn’t do as well as you wanted, and what you’re doing about it?
Jon Moeller
That’s a great question. And one of the exciting things about your company is, I believe we have opportunity to improve across the elements of our strategy. We talked earlier today about focus on four areas, employee value proposition, sustainability, digital acumen, supply that will strengthen the power of the existing integrated growth model. There is always an opportunity to increase our margin of superiority. We operate in a very dynamic competitive environment, and complacency kills.
We have a need, both to fund that investment and to build margins to continue our progress on productivity and improving even further the efficiency of our organization. There are always opportunities in a rapidly changing environment to improve our communication to consumers and our execution in the market. All of this I view as extraordinarily exciting.
John Chevalier
We now have two Tide detergent questions. The first one relates to Tide unit-dose detergents. How are you continuing to ensure the safety of Tide PODS?
Jon Moeller
That’s critical. Safety of consumers who use our products is a top priority. And we take that commitment very seriously, as we have since our founding. Since the launch of Tide PODS about a decade ago, we’ve made significant product and packaging improvements and work with partners like Safe Kids Worldwide, and the American Cleaning Institute to educate people about safe use, and storage of household cleaning products like laundry PODS. These actions have made a demonstrable difference, and we will continue to try to ensure the highest levels of safety in this category.
John Chevalier
The next question relates to Tide powder product availability. I’ve been using Tide powder for years, I do not want to use PODS or liquid Tide. Why can’t I buy tide original powder in the 42 ounce three load box anymore? You seem to be selling it only in very large quantity boxes.
Jon Moeller
First of all, thank you very much for your apparent loyalty to America’s favorite detergent. We strive to make all products available, and apologize that you’ve been unable to find the product that’s most important to you. Through your asking of this question, we have the information to get back with you. Consumer relations will get back to you via email to assist you in location of the product that’s most important to you. Again, thank you for your loyalty to America’s favorite detergent.
John Chevalier
Jon, we’ve received a few questions related to the format of this meeting. Do you plan to offer in person shareholder meeting sometime in the future? How much does this format cost? I appreciate P&G’s connection to shareholders in the meeting conducted in the past and shareholder breakfast and gifts of P&G products provided the shareholders at the in-person end shareholder meetings.
Jon Moeller
We haven’t spent a lot of time at this juncture talking about future meetings, but we will. I will say that the virtual meetings have allowed a wide spectrum of participation from shareowners across the country and should they desire, shareowners across the globe. That’s harder and more expensive in the context of a face-to-face meeting.
Regardless of what — of the format, we value the input and engagement of all shareowners, and frankly look forward to this dialogue. As I mentioned, virtual savings do represent a cost savings to you, our P&G shareowners, and we will continue trying to serve your needs as well as be as efficient in that process as we possibly can.
John Chevalier
Jon, the next comment we have is from a shareholder. Good morning Mr. Chair, Board members and fellow shareholders. I am Jane C. Garcia from the great city of Detroit, Michigan. I applaud you Mr. Chair for your leadership during the darkest days many of us have ever known. P&G has done an exemplary job continuing to be community minded and supporting nonprofits throughout our country, providing food and basic needs to so many needy senior citizens and struggling families during these challenging times. I look forward to a brighter 2022 and hope to see you in person at next year’s shareholder meeting. Together we will prevail. Wishes Gracias [ph] Jane.
Jon Moeller
Thank you so much for your comments, and your support. All the credit though, is to the 100,000 P&G employees around the world, and the simple priorities that we adopted — that they adopted as we headed into the crisis, health, self-safety and well-being of each other, serving consumers, supporting communities. These are all important part of both our values and our strategy.
But again, I really want to commend the men and women of P&G, who pulled together, as you say, in very, very difficult times, to continue our service to consumers, customers, each other, shareholders and society and you can be confident that we will continue with those efforts.
John Chevalier
Jon, the next comment from shareholders relates to social programs. It’s very impressive how P&G participates in so many socially relevant programs. Please keep it up. But how are you able to do this while still running a successful business?
Jon Moeller
Supporting our communities is important. It fosters equality and inclusion and supports the delivery of superior products that are sustainable. We do this by staying focused on serving consumers and being action-oriented where we can make a difference. We strive to be a force for growth, so that we can be a force for good. We need both.
John Chevalier
The next question relates — of the dividend reinvestment program. Have you considered reducing or eliminating the dividend reinvestment fee?
Jon Moeller
I’m not that — I’m not familiar with the level of detail that would allow me to respond responsibly to your question. So I’m going to ask that our Investor Relations group contact you and provide more perspective on that topic.
John, any other questions?
John Chevalier
Yes. The next question, how many shareholders are participating in today’s virtual shareholder meeting?
Jon Moeller
Wait for just a second, I will get that answer for you. Give me a minute. We have more than 100 shareholders that are logged on currently to this annual meeting. Anything else John?
John Chevalier
At this point we have no more questions.
Jon Moeller
That completes today’s meeting. I want to again thank you for all your confidence and support. It means a lot, particularly from those of you who have been long term shareholders of P&G. Thank you very much.
Operator
That concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for attending.
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