Calpers Takes Aim at CEO Pay and Questions Shareholder Behavior
- The pension fund rejected 52% of executive pay plans this year
- Many firms fail to pay commensurate to results, fund says
Photographer: Peshkova/iStockphoto via Getty Images
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Many chief executive officers at U.S. companies are paid too much -- and investors aren’t holding corporate boards accountable, a senior official at the country’s largest public pension fund said.
The too-generous compensation happens despite talk that executive pay is linked to performance, said Simiso Nzima, head of corporate governance at the $389-billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which has taken action on the issue: In the first half of the year, it cast votes against pay plans at 1,165 firms, or 52% of portfolio companies that held votes.