Target Shareholders Reject Ackman's Board Nominees

ANNE D'INNOCENZIO

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Rejecting a hedge fund's bid to enlarge Target Corp.'s board and infuse it with new blood, the company's shareholders re-elected a slate of four incumbents Thursday at their annual meeting, according to preliminary vote totals.

Activist shareholder William Ackman had sparred with Target for months in a contentious campaign to add five of his own picks — including himself — to the Minneapolis-based retailer's board of directors, replacing the four incumbents, whose terms were set to expire.

Ackman, head of Pershing Square Capital Management, which holds 7.8 percent of Target's outstanding stock, has argued that its board needed members with new perspective — especially in the areas of retail, credit and real estate — to compete effectively with its chief rival, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark.

Shareholders rejected that argument at their meeting in an unfinished store outside Milwaukee and re-elected Mary N. Dillon, Richard M. Kovacevich, George W. Tamke and Solomon D. Trujillo, whose terms were set to expire. Shareholders also sided with the company in approving a measure that keeps the board's size at 12 members, instead of enlarging it to the 13 Ackman proposed.