Six years after the famous Renault assembly which voted against Carlos Ghosn’s salary at Renault, Stellantis shareholders voted against the remuneration of the group’s leaders.
History is repeating itself. At the meeting of April 29, 2016, Renault shareholders had, at 54.1%, rejected the remuneration of Carlos Ghosn, the boss of Renault. This “say on pay” vote was then only advisory, but it raised an outcry and led to a change in French law making this vote binding the following year. Six years later, it was the compensation of another car boss, Carlos Tavares, who was once Carlos Ghosn’s right-hand man at Renault and who is now general manager of Stellantis, which led to an identical vote. .
This afternoon, the shareholders of the company resulting from the marriage between Peugeot SA and Fiat Chrysler have, with a majority of 52% of the votes, rejected the compensation policy for the group’s managers. However, as the company is under Dutch law, this vote is still only advisory. “The value of Stellantis is meritocracy. We pay for performance,” justified John Elkann, the president of the group. Will this negative vote lead, as was the case in France, to a modification of Dutch law? Nothing is less certain, this country being known for its flexible legislation which thus attracts a large number of international groups.
66 million euros according to Phitrust
If the success of Carlos Tavares at the head of Stellantis is undeniable (as was, moreover, to a lesser extent, that of Carlos Ghosn in 2016) and welcomed by all observers, the sums received may seem disproportionate. According to calculations by the management company Phitrust, the total remuneration received in 2021 amounts to 19 million. By adding free share plans and long-term compensation, Phitrust’s calculation leads to an allocation of 66 million euros. Recall that in 2015, Carlos Ghosn had received 7.3 million at Renault, to which must be added the 8 million received as boss of Nissan. If we compare the remuneration of Carlos Tavares to that of the big bosses of the automobile in the world, his 19 million are at the top of the range, at the level of the Americans but above what the leaders of the major German manufacturers. If we take into consideration the 66 million mentioned by Phitrust, we then completely change dimension.
RLB