Quick presto! In one hour and twenty-five minutes, Tuesday April 16, John Elkann, the president of the Stellantis group, called off the general meeting of shareholders which validated the accounts for the year 2023. Share holders approved at 99.99 % the dividend policy of the manufacturer which generated extraordinary profits in 2023, rising to the top of the CAC 40, between Total and LVMH. Of this net profit of 18.6 billion euros, 7.7 billion were redistributed to them in the form of dividends or share buybacks.
As if it were only a formality, in a dull voice, John Elkann, grandson of Gianni Agnelli, dressed in an astonishing orange vest under his classic gray suit, also put to the vote the remuneration of directors for the year 2023: 4.8 million euros for himself and 36.5 million euros (including deferred items) for Carlos Tavares, a completely extraordinary amount for a CAC 40 industrialist. A few seconds barely any suspense and the verdict is in: 70% positive votes.
This result was by no means obvious. The three major firms specializing in shareholder advice – ISS, Glass Lewis and its French branch Proxinvest – had recommended voting against this remuneration. With multiple arguments: a salary too high compared to European standards (6.77 times the median salary of its peers according to ISS), a gap too large compared to the average salary at Stellantis (518 times more, the average being 70 404 euros), excessive benefits (delayed retirement and assumption of part of Carlos Tavares’ taxes, private plane travel for John Elkann) and a risk of acceptability given the current workforce reduction plans , particularly in the United States or Italy.
The shareholders preferred to unambiguously salute the financial performance of the leading pair. “If Carlos Tavares had been a director of Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors or Renault, he would not have received the variable part of his profit because their operating margin is less than 10%”, said a spokesperson for the group. At Stellantis, it amounts to 12.8%, like at Mercedes and better than at Tesla at the end of the year.
“Like a football player”
For Carlos Tavares, nothing is more important than this margin for which he squeezes costs to the point of exhausting certain employees. He sees it as life insurance for the future, an ability to last longer than his competitors – including Chinese – in the event of a price war and to invest. It also contributed to doubling the value of the group on the stock market.
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