The shareholders of Jp Morgan reject the award decided by the group for the historic chief executive Jamie Dimon. Only 31% of members voted at the annual meeting in favor of a special $ 52.6 million equity option compensation for Dimon, an incentive that was developed to convince him to remain at the helm of the institution for at least others. five years. In eight of the last twelve years, the largest American banking institution had seen top compensation backed by as much as 90% of the votes.
Objective: to detain Dimon
The vote – the so-called say-on-pay – is only advisory and the top executive is expected to keep the expected pay. Although the bank had previously indicated that it wanted to take into account the opinion of shareholders at the annual meeting. Jp Morgan defended herself by pointing out that the prize is extremely rare and linked to the project to keep Dimon. The negative vote on the extraordinary package, although without the power to be enforced, is nevertheless significant of the growing controversy over super-compensation, in finance and at the top of the entire Corporate America. Wages are back on track at a rapid pace in the aftermath of the worst moment of the pandemic. The Wall Street Journal calculated that the median pay for CEOs in large US companies hit a new record at 14.7 million by 2021, with increases of at least 12% for most executives.
The Intel case
With the awards at the top, the protests are back. Support for top compensation packages for S&P 500 companies fell today to 88.3%, from 89.6% in 2020 and from 90% in 2019, the last pre-Covid year. Other influential US giants have suffered setbacks on top remuneration. Just hours before the Jp Morgan vote it came to light that 54.2% of Intel’s shareholders said no, putting the spotlight on a nearly 180 million package for CEO Pat Gelsinger.
How much does the CEO earn
In the case of Jp Morgan, a large shareholder consulting firm, Glass, Lewis & Co. had taken the field inviting 66-year-old Dimon to vote against the award, denouncing “excessive extraordinary packages” not in line with performance and such as to to raise ongoing concerns about the top pay structure. Another influential consulting firm, ISS, had also recommended a rejection. Dimon, who already boasts a billionaire personal fortune, received a total of 84.4 million in compensation for 2021, including the award of 52.6 million and 25 million in shares, 5 million in bonuses and a base salary of 1.5. millions.