Factbox: Battles over CEO pay across the globe

Equifax

03/12/2024 12:38

(Rewrites paragraphs 1-2; adds Delaware judge rejecting CEO
Elon Musk's pay package)
       Dec 3 (Reuters) - 
    A Delaware judge on Monday 
    rejected
     Tesla  TSLA.O  CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package for
a second time, despite the automaker's shareholders voting to
reinstate it earlier this year.
  
    In January, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of
Chancery called the pay package excessive and rescinded it,
surprising investors and casting uncertainty over Musk's future
at the EV maker. 
     Below are other CEO pay packages that have faced a tough
fight:
 Year  Company       Description
 2024  Tesla                     A Delaware 
        TSLA.O                   judge ruled
                                  that Musk is still not
                     entitled to receive a $56 billion
                     compensation package despite
                     shareholders of the electric vehicle
                     company voting in June to reinstate
                     it.
                     
 2024  AstraZeneca   Over a third of AstraZeneca's
        AZN.L        investors opposed its 2024 pay
                     policy, which will boost CEO Pascal
                     Soriot's remuneration to as much as
                     18.9 million pounds. It won the
                     backing, however, of the required
                     majority of votes.
 2024  3M  MMM.N     In May, 3M shareholders voted down
                     the annual compensation packages of
                     certain executives, including that of
                     former CEO Mike Roman. 
 2024  BlackRock     BlackRock's executive pay, including
        BLK.N        that of CEO Larry Fink, won narrow
                     support from shareholders, with about
                     42% of votes cast opposing it. 
 2024  Boohoo        UK-based Boohoo Group's bosses waived
        BOOH.L       their annual bonuses in May and
                     scrapped plans to raise executive
                     awards after backlash from
                     shareholders.
 2023  BP  BP.L      Former CEO Bernard Looney had more
                     than $40 million cut in his
                     compensation after the British oil
                     giant concluded he misled the board
                     over personal relationships with
                     colleagues.
 2023  Telecom       Shareholders rejected Telecom
       Italia        Italia's pay policy after top
        TLIT.MI      investor Vivendi criticized criteria
                     to award bonus payments to CEO Pietro
                     Labriola.
 2022  Intel         Intel shareholders rejected
        INTC.O       compensation packages for top
                     executives, including a payout of as
                     much as $178.6 million to then CEO
                     Pat Gelsinger.
 2021  Rio Tinto     Rio Tinto shareholders rejected the
        RIO.L        miner's executive pay packages, in a
        RIO.AX       backlash over its destruction of
                     ancient rock shelters in Western
                     Australia the previous year.
 2021  McDonald's    Former CEO Steve Easterbrook agreed
        MCD.N        to return compensation worth $105
                     million in equity awards and cash to
                     settle a lawsuit over alleged lies
                     about affairs.
 2021  GE  GE.N      GE shareholders rejected executives'
                     compensation packages, including a
                     payout of as much as $230 million to
                     CEO Larry Culp.
 2021  Morrisons     Investors in the British supermarket
                     group overwhelmingly rejected its pay
                     report in 2021.
 2021  Halliburton   More than half of Halliburton's
        HAL.N        shareholders voted against its
                     proposed executive compensation plan.
 2021  UniCredit     The Italian bank's boss, Andrea
        CRDI.MI      Orcel, narrowly avoided a shareholder
                     revolt against his pay package,
                     securing only 54% of votes at a
                     general meeting after top investor
                     BlackRock voted against it.
 2019  CBS           CBS Corp fired Leslie Moonves for
                     cause and denied a $120 million
                     severance package after the former
                     chief executive was accused of sexual
                     harassment and assault that allegedly
                     took place before and after he joined
                     the company.
 2017  Uber          Travis Kalanick, Uber's co-founder
        UBER.N       and CEO, was forced to resign after a
                     series of scandals plagued the
                     company, including allegations of
                     sexual harassment and a toxic
                     workplace culture. Shareholders later
                     sued the board, alleging it failed to
                     properly oversee Kalanick and allowed
                     the scandals to occur. 
 2017  Equifax       After a massive data breach exposed
        EFX.N        millions of customers' personal
                     information, Equifax's CEO received
                     significant criticism for his
                     handling of the crisis and a hefty
                     bonus. Shareholders filed suit
                     alleging the board failed to properly
                     oversee the CEO.
 2017  BP  BP.L      BP cut CEO Bob Dudley's 2016 pay
                     package by 40% after a wave of
                     shareholder revolts.
 2016  Viacom[VIACO  A shareholder lawsuit claimed that
       M.UL]         Viacom and CBS Corp's executive
                     chairman, Sumner Redstone,  was
                     improperly paid millions though "he
                     was physically and mentally
                     incapacitated."
 2011  Occidental    Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray
       Petroleum     Irani was criticized for excessive
        OXY.N        pay after his compensation grew 40%
                     in 2009 to $31.4 million.
                     Shareholders pushed for board seats. 
 2002  Worldcom      After an accounting scandal that led
                     to financial fraud, shareholders sued
                     the company over excessive
                     compensation awarded to executives,
                     including the CEO.
      

 (Reporting by Priyanka.G, Anchal Rana, Yadarisa Shabong,
Jaspreet Singh, Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by
Aditya Soni, Devika Syamnath, Matthew Lewis, Miral Fahmy, Sriraj
Kalluvila and Anil D'Silva)
 ((mailto:Priyanka.G@thomsonreuters.com;))