When we receive our proxies for AMRN let's vote NO like GE shareholders did to send a message to the BOD.
GE Shareholders Slap Board For CEO's $73 Million Package -- Barrons.com
DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC. 3:54 PM ET 5/4/2021
Symbol Last Price Change
GE 13.135up -0.315 (-2.342%)
QUOTES AS OF 03:54:25 PM ET 05/04/2021
General Electric (GE) shareholders sent a message to the board Tuesday: They're not happy that CEO Larry Culp took home $73 million last year.
At the company's annual meeting, held virtually, shareholders -- based on a preliminary count -- voted no on the " say-on-pay" question on the proxy card. Management is required, under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, to ask shareholders to approve compensation for typically the company's highest paid executive such as the chief executive and the chief financial officer.
The no vote, though, doesn't mean Culp will have his pay cut or his compensation package renegotiated. It's nonbinding so the board doesn't have to do anything.
But it was a warning that the board heard loud and clear.
"We value the views of our shareholders, and we will gather additional feedback from them as we take into consideration the outcome of the vote and evaluate our executive compensation program moving forward," a GE spokeswoman told Barron's in an email. "Over the last year, the Board has taken steps to align GE's compensation practices with the interests of shareholders, including the importance of maintaining a strong leadership team to guide our multi-year transformation."
After a few tough years, GE is in a turnaround -- led by Culp. And investors are probably happy with the direction of the company and the stock price since he arrived in late 2018.
When Culp took over, shares were below $11. For a few months, the stock kept falling -- to less than $7 a share. Today, shares are above $13, despite Covid-19 hurting the company's large commercial aviation business unit. Lower costs and debt pay down have helped boost the price in recent quarters.
Culp has been well paid for his efforts. His total calculated compensation came in at about $73 million in 2020, up from roughly $24.5 million in 2019.
The no vote was a surprise and it might have moved the stock. Shares were down about 2.6% in afternoon trading Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite was down 2.3%. The S&P 500 was off 1%.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
