Procter & Gamble won its proxy fight with hedge fund CEO Nelson Peltz, P&G chairman David Taylor announced at the end of the company's annual meeting Tuesday morning.

But Peltz, who had predicted the vote would be "extremely close," wasn't conceeding after the meeting. The result was "as close to a dead heat as you can find," he said in an interview on CNBC, adding "ultimately the numbers will come out in our favor."

Taylor, in his own CNBC interview, said the message that he and other CEOs should take from the vote was simple: "Deliver better results."

The shareholders met at P&G's Downtown headquarters starting at 9 a.m. After a 30 minute Q&A session, Taylor recessed the meeting at 10:28 a.m. "for an update." When he came back in three minutes, he announced the preliminary vote but said "we will continue to listen to Nelson Peltz." Taylor did not give vote totals or say when they would be final.

To win, Peltz needed a groundswell of support from dissatisfied investors. His firm, Trian Fund Management, owns 1.5 percent of P&G, which is worth about $3.5 billion. Peltz and Trian are veterans of other proxy fights at Heinz and DuPont, but the fight with P&G was described as the largest in U.S. corporate history.

The outcome of the vote could affect thousands of positions at P&G. The consumer products giant employs 10,000 workers in Greater Cincinnati and 95,000 total worldwide.

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During the CNBC interview, Peltz reiterated that he had no plans to move P&G's headquarters from Cincinnati although he wants to cut the company's bureaucracy.

He asked Taylor to end the fight by adding him to the board. "Make it 12," Peltz said.

Taylor, in a subsequent CNBC interview, laughed when asked if P&G would honor Peltz' request. If the final tally shows Peltz won, Taylor said the company would follow "the will of the shareholders."

Being on the board would give Peltz access to internal financial statements as well as direct access to general managers and others inside P&G, including board members, Peltz said. Peltz now talks directly to Taylor only.

Peltz criticized the P&G board for not meeting with him as a group. He also complained about the personal tone of the proxy fight. "It got nasty on their part. I think we were gentlemanly," he said.

"I’m not mad at David," Peltz continued, because things happen in proxy fights. But then he added, "I don’t think they’re serving their shareholders properly."

Taylor later said he had always treated Peltz with courtesy and disputed that he had ever called the investor "dangerous," adding that it was Peltz's "ideas that I'm concerned about."

In speaking for his proposal during the meeting, Peltz urged the board to a adopt "owner mentality" that he would represent.

Peltz sought a seat on the 11-person board, which oversees senior executives and company strategy, while company officials have urged shareholders to reject his bid.

He also wanted shareholders to approve a separate vote to add a board seat, taking it to 12. Again, the current board recommended a vote against Peltz's proposal.

Peltz wanted the seat to give him a bigger say in the company's ongoing restructuring, which has dragged on for much of the decade. He says P&G hasn't done enough to restore growth and still has too many layers of management holding it back.

Peltz didn't specify how many jobs he thinks could be affected, but has called for "flattening" management and eliminating "bureaucracy." Several companies he has targeted have shed tens of thousands of jobs through divestitures and layoffs.

P&G says Peltz is late to the game: It's already implemented or rejected many of his ideas during its restructuring and is already seeing results improve. P&G CEO David Taylor says Peltz and his "outdated" ideas would be an unwelcome distraction in the boardroom.

The P&G vote camesa day after another company with a large Cincinnati footprint, General Electric, agreed to give Trian a seat on its board. GE announced Monday the addition of Trian co-founder Ed Garden to the board. The move came a week after the resignation of longtime chairman Jeff Immelt, a Finneytown native and former P&G employee.

In his presentation to shareholders, Taylor said P&G "was willing to change anything" that wasn't counter to its values to make the company perform better.

Taylor described P&G as "profoundly" different company than a few years ago, since it has shed dozens of brands to focus on a core of daily used products.

A video showed by Taylor highlighted better results from China, P&G's second largest market with annual sales of $7 billion. All seven of P&G's product groups now are performing as expected in China, Taylor said, compared to lagging sales virtually across the board when he took over as CEO roughly two years ago.

Taylor highlighted the company's viral marketing, with videos designed to reach Millennials, such as the Like A Girl series that has generated 550 million views.

Cost cutting to boost productivity has helped P&G cushion itself from the negative effects of foreign currency exchange (due to the strong dollar), Taylor said. The steps include creating regional "mixing hubs," where it can manufacture and then distribute closer to consumers.

"We're on the road to meeting current and future consumer needs," he said, as well as boosting shareholder value.

Taylor took shareholder questions near the close of the meeting. When a retiree siding with Peltz criticized how long it takes for P&G to bring innovations to market, Taylor said the speed of innovation was a concern and management was working to improve it.

One shareholder asked why P&G sent out so many mailings about the proxy fight. "We did everything we thought was necessary," Taylor said. Both sides made more than 80 filings, which went to more than 2.5 million shareholders.

Shareholder Tom Bookman asked about P&G's share price. "Management is very impressed with performance but the market, not too much impressed," he said. "Even people who are in it for the long term" want better returns, he said.

Foreign currency exchange and getting off track in China "hurt the top line," Taylor said. "I share your dissatisfaction. ... We're not saying success, we're saying improvement. We're not satisfied with results until they're outstanding."

"We have to do more and we have to do it faster,' Taylor said, responding to another shareholder's comment that if senior management and the board can't get the company and its share price growing, they should be replaced.

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