Peltz, who wanted a seat on the P&G board, and his associates were telling media they will wait for certified vote results. The company did not immediately release a vote count, and Peltz did not concede the fight.
“I am open to listening to, and we are open to listening to, ideas from wherever they may come,” said P&G CEO David Taylor.
Taylor said in a press conference that he didn’t have exact vote numbers, but he said he was pleased with the results.
“We’re certainly happy with the outcome of the preliminary proxy contest,” he said.
After the shareholders meeting, Peltz said the vote was close, and indicated he was surprised the company announced a result.
"The vote on a best-case basis is one percent for them, one percent against them," Peltz told media. "That's the margin we've estimated."
Peltz also noted that he remains a big shareholder of P&G, with a $3.5 billion stake in the company.
"I'm here," he said. "We're going to do the best we can."
Here’s what the vote was about: Activist hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz wanted a seat on the P&G board. Leaders of the consumer retail giant opposed his bid.
NELSON PELTZ: Who is the activist investor waging war against Procter & Gamble?
Peltz had called for P&G to reorganize into three business units, shrinking from 10: beauty, grooming and healthcare; fabric and home care and baby, feminine and family care.
P&G said Peltz’s bid was interrupting a “transformation” of the company that had already made solid progress.
Said Taylor: “We’re in a major transformation, and it is yielding results.”
He also said that he and others would continue to listen to Peltz.
“We were already moving in a good direction, but this has brought us together more,” the CEO said.
RELATED: It's crunch time in Procter & Gamble fight
How having Peltz placed on the board could have affected local and regional employment was a question, P&G spokespeople said in the weeks before Tuesday’s vote.
With more than $65 billion in revenue and more than 95,000 employees worldwide, P&G is a huge employer in Ohio and the Dayton-Cincinnati corridor.
“What got reenforced through this whole process was deliver: Deliver great results,” Taylor said.
The company has a business center in Mason, with more than 1,500 workers. Also, a 1.7 million-square-foot distribution hub for P&G products opened near the Dayton International Airport in Union nearly three years ago.
More than a third of P&G’s products moves through that facility.
Supply chain company DHL has about 520 employees there; Impact has about 100 workers; P&G has about 140 there. There are about 760 workers total at the Union center, P&G said.
In all, P&G has about 11,000 Ohio employees, with about 10,000 employees in the Cincinnati area and about 3,400 in downtown Cincinnati.
P&G had asked shareholders to approve a slate of 11 nominees for its board of directors.
But Peltz angled for a seat on P&G’s board — and a new direction for the company, which oversees some of the biggest household brands in the world, such as Tide laundry detergent, Pampers diapers, Crest toothpaste and many others.
With every passing day, it seemed the stakes in the fight got only higher. It’s a “battle for the future of big brands,” the Wall Street Journal said Monday.
As the vote approached, Peltz appeared to be winning support. Last week, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which has some 5.6 million shares of P&G stock (NYSE: PG), said it was supporting Peltz. The retirement system has been an investor with Peltz’ firm, Trian Fund Management, since 2011.
The system describes itself as the world’s largest educator-only pension fund. Peltz also said he had picked up the backing of a trio of shareholder advisory firms.
MORE: P&G investment battle: 3 things to know
In another sign of apparent moment for Peltz and Trian: On Monday, a founding partner at Trian, Ed Garden, won a seat on the board of another big Ohio employer, General Electric Co.
Both sides — P&G and Peltz — have spent around $60 million in a campaign to win votes.
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