Tech start-ups fight Senate plan to change the way stock options are taxed

Senate Republicans have touted their tax bill as business-friendly, but technology start-ups — including Hyperloop One, Airbnb, Uber and Vimeo — are fuming over a provision that would make a major change to how stock options are taxed.

A key tool for start-ups to attract employees, stock options are currently taxed when they are cashed in. The Senate Republican tax bill, unveiled last week, would tax the options on the date they vest, meaning when the employee is allowed to begin cashing them in.

The difference is significant because employees often hold on to their options, hopefully until those options’ value rises with the growth of the company. Under the proposed change, employees could face large tax bills before they realize the income from cashing in the stock options to pay them.

Jim Puzzanghera, Contact Reporter
LA TIMES, November 14th, 2017

Read more here.

Teamsters Urge McKesson Shareholders to Vote Against CEO Pay

NEW YORK — The International Brotherhood of Teamsters urged McKesson Corp's shareholders to vote against the company's executive pay practices and called for it to appoint an independent chairman as the union criticized the drug distributor for its role in the U.S. opioid drug epidemic.

McKesson Chief Executive John Hammergren was paid more than $20 million for the year ended March 31, despite the company's record $150 million settlement paid to resolve a U.S. investigation into whether it failed to report suspicious orders of addictive painkillers.

"Recent pay decisions ... send completely the wrong message to shareholders, regulators, lawmakers and the public about executive accountability," the Teamsters wrote in a letter to other shareholders filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

By REUTERSJULY 10, 2017, 12:12 P.M. E.D.T.

Read more here.

Continue reading the main storyShare This Page

• Share

• Tweet

• Email

• More

Caterpillar shareholders vote on company policies, directors this week

PEORIA — An investment group that previously pressured Caterpillar Inc. to alter executive compensation formulas is asking shareholders to once again nudge the board of directors in a different direction at the company’s annual meeting this week.

CtW Investment Group wants shareholders to endorse strengthened executive compensation clawback provisions — giving stockholders more ways to recoup money from company officers found to have been negligent or to have engaged in misconduct.

CtW, which promotes investor activism by working with the pension funds of a federation of unions representing 5.5 million members and more than $200 billion in assets, also seeks more transparency from Caterpillar when clawbacks occur.

By Matt Buedel 
Journal Star Caterpillar/industry reporter 
Posted Jun 11, 2017 at 4:55 PM

Updated Jun 11, 2017 at 5:51 PM

Read more here.

Exxon Mobil's executive pay plan gets thumbs down from top proxy adviser

Exxon Mobil shareholders should not support the continuation of the oil major's executive payment program, influential proxy advisory ISS has determined.

The advisory says the company's payment structure for its CEO is out of step with current market standards, and Exxon offers too little detail on the criteria for bonuses.

"Exxon's executive pay program has remained largely unchanged for the better part of a decade. What has not remained constant over this period, however, are prevailing market practices and investors' expectations around executive compensation and related disclosure," it concluded.

Tom DiChristopher | @tdichristopher

Friday, 19 May 2017 | 2:19 PM ET | CNBC

Read more here.

Early Proxy Results Signal Investors Want Annual Say on Executive Pay

Shareholders strongly favor maintaining annual say-on-pay votes, even though the majority of investors back company executive compensation plans, according to a report from ISS Analytics, a unit of the nation’s biggest proxy adviser.

Investors this year get to weigh in on how frequently companies should seek their opinion on executive remuneration plans. This is the second time shareholders get to decide on the frequency of the executive compensation approval ballot since 2011, when the rules first came into effect. Investors could opt to hold the vote annually, once every two years, or every three years.

By 

TATYANA SHUMSKY

Jun 1, 2017 2:18 pm ET Wall Street JournalRead more here.

CEO pay climbed faster last year, up 8.5 percent

The typical CEO at the biggest U.S. companies got an 8.5 percent raise last year, raking in $11.5 million in salary, stock and other compensation last year, according to a study by executive data firm Equilar for The Associated Press. That's the biggest raise in three years.

The bump reflects how well stocks have done under these CEOs' watch. Boards of directors increasingly require that CEOs push their stock price higher to collect their maximum possible payout, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index returned 12 percent last year.

(AP)

Stan Choe, Associated Press May 23rd, 2017

Read more here.

ISS pressures Mylan ahead of shareholder vote

Influential proxy firm ISS on Monday turned up the heat on Mylan NV, advising its institutional clients to voice their dissatisfaction with the generic drugmaker's board of directors and its chairman's pay package at its June 22 shareholder meeting.

ISS's urged votes against 10 board members and executive pay packages, recommendations that come after a small group of high-profile investors, including the state and city of New York pension funds and the California teachers pension fund, urged other shareholders to vote against six board members and Chairman Robert Coury. It cited Mylan's eroding reputation and share price.

BUSINESS NEWS | Mon Jun 12, 2017 | 12:19pm EDT

Read more here.

BP cuts CEO's pay package after shareholder backlash

BP (BP.L) has cut Chief Executive Bob Dudley's 2016 pay package by 40 percent to $11.6 million, the latest British bluechip company to rein in executive pay after a wave of shareholder revolts.

The oil company has reduced Dudley's payout and introduced changes from this year that will lower executives' performance incentives. The cuts come after around 60 percent of shareholders opposed BP's pay policy at last year's annual general meeting.

Executive pay has come under growing scrutiny in Britain after a string of corporate scandals, such as the collapse of store chain BHS, which has fueled mistrust of the high levels of pay awarded to company bosses.

By Karolin Schaps | LONDON

BUSINESS NEWS | Thu Apr 6, 2017 | 11:55am EDT

Read more here

Is a CEO Worth $200 Million? Shareholders at Rail Giant Think So

Is superstar railroad executive Hunter Harrison worth a $200 million pay package? For that matter, is any CEO worth that?

The question has arisen in a shareholder activist’s campaign to shake up CSX Corp., one of North America’s major railroads. To sway investors and board members, Paul Hilal has promised to install Harrison as the company’s chief executive officer. In the rail business, that’s like a basketball owner vowing to recruit LeBron James. And like James, Harrison doesn’t come cheap.

In a highly unusual public negotiation, Harrison, 72, is demanding compensation in the nine figures to take the job, much of it tied to stock awards. The CSX board has said it would welcome Harrison as CEO, but not at the pay level requested, calling it “exceptionally unusual, if not unprecedented” for an incoming boss. Indeed, Harrison would be in the rarefied compensation neighborhood of people like investment banker Paul J. Taubman or Patrick Soon-Shiong, the pharma billionaire.

By Anders Melin and Frederic Tomesco, March 6th, 2017, Bloomberg Technology

Read more here.