“We are critical of the awards given their excessive sizes,” Glass Lewis said in a report to clients seen by Bloomberg News. “Such awards have the potential to undermine the integrity of a company’s regular incentive plans, the link between pay and performance or both.”
A prominent adviser to shareholders is taking umbrage at the special bonus grants to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s chief executive officer and a top deputy – a rebuke that comes at an awkward time for the bank as its stock turns in the worst showing among peers this year.
Glass Lewis, a major voice on annual shareholder votes, is recommending Goldman investors vote against a pay package that puts CEO David Solomon and John Waldron, the bank’s president, in line for about US$50 million in one-time bonuses. The adviser questioned whether the board’s rationale for the grants – guaranteeing leadership continuity and talent retention – warranted such large payouts.
