Key Takeaways
- Salesforce shareholders voted against the pay plans for executives including CEO Marc Benioff, a new SEC filing shows.
- The advisory vote on executive pay was one of a number of issues voted on by shareholders at the company’s annual meeting last week.
- Shareholders also re-elected members of the company’s board, and approved changes to its equity incentive plan.
Salesforce (CRM) shareholders last week voted against compensation plans for executives including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marc Benioff, a Monday night Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing revealed.
The compensation plans were rejected, with 404.8 million votes against and 339.3 million votes in favor, according to the filing. Shareholders voted in favor of a number of other proposals including adjustments to the company’s employee equity incentive plan, along with the re-election of board members.
Pay Plan Rejected, Outcome Advisory Firms Pushed For
The Salesforce board had recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the pay packages in its proxy statement, and noted that while the advisory vote on executive pay was nonbinding, the company’s compensation committee “values the opinions expressed by our stockholders and will consider the outcome of this vote when making future executive compensation decisions.”
Benioff earned $39.6 million in total compensation for fiscal 2024, a more than 32% year-over-year jump. This included a pair of equity awards, with the second worth $20 million, “in light of the Company’s extraordinary fiscal 2024 performance.”
Advisory firms like Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services spoke out against the pay proposals, as Glass Lewis wrote ahead of the meeting that there was a “lack of a fully convincing rationale” for the additional equity grants given to Benioff, according to CNBC.
Salesforce stock had regained ground in recent weeks after falling nearly 20% in one day following the release of its most recent earnings report, which saw revenue miss estimates and the company offer weaker-than-expected guidance for the second quarter. But executives said in the earnings call that the company was still confident in its ability to reach its fiscal 2025 guidance numbers.
Salesforce shares are down less than 1% about 30 minutes before the opening bell Tuesday, putting them down about 3.3% so far this year.