Carlos Tavares† general manager of Stellantis† is the leader “Highest Paid in History”, said Loïc Dessaint, responsible for governance issues at the consultancy firm Proxinvest, guest of franceinfo on Thursday 14 April. Proxinvest, which publishes an annual company executive compensation ranking, is studying this topic “since 25 years”† “On average in the CAC40 we are around 4 or 5 million euros. Here we are talking about 66 million euros, it’s 13 times more, it’s absolutely colossal”explains Loïc Dessaint, based on the estimate of theThe management company PhiTrust, minority shareholder of Stellantis, who voted against the compensation of Carlos Tavares which it estimates at 66 million euros, which a Stellantis spokesperson denied and estimated at 19 million euros for 2021, “the rest” being alone “long-term hypothetical elements, up to 2028”.
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franceinfo: Is Carlos Tavares the highest paid French boss with this fee?
Loic Dessaint: In fact, it is the highest paid in history. Proxinvest has been studying this topic of executive pay for 25 years and it is the highest paid in history. On average, we are in the CAC40 around 4 to 5 million euros. That is already a lot of money as total compensation. We are talking about 66 million euros here. It’s 13 times more, it’s absolutely colossal.
“For example, the norm is no more than 150% of the fixed amount, for an annual bonus. Here at Stellantis we are at almost 400% of the fixed amount.”
Loïc Dessaint, head of governance issues at the consultancy firm Proxinvestat franceinfo
It’s almost extraordinary, especially since we have an annual bonus of 7.5 million euros.
Do other countries pay their bosses even better?
In comparison, a big boss of an American company earns about 15 million dollars. We can find some abnormal situations such as Tesla boss Elon Musk. Conversely, the Japanese pay very little. In Europe, France is average. The Swiss and the British pay a little more. The Scandinavians and the Dutch less so.
We talk a lot about the good performance of the group last year, but can we talk about a well-deserved salary?
There is no reason for him to be paid much more than the top executives of Renault or TotalEnergies. The directors’ remuneration is proposed to the Board of Directors and submitted for approval to the General Meeting. There, the special feature that Stellantis is a company incorporated under Dutch law, is not subject to a binding vote as is the case in France. France was drawn to the Carlos Ghosn case, when Renault’s general meeting of shareholders rejected his remuneration. We had a democratic debate and had come to the conclusion in France that it was not possible to maintain in the remuneration against the opinion of one’s own shareholders. European law is more flexible than French law.
So there was an advisory vote. lThe Stellantis executive compensation package was also rejected by 52.12% of the shareholder vote, but that doesn’t count?
In France, in case of rejection, Carlos Tavares would not have been able to receive his annual bonuses and all his action plans. He would only have the fixed amount, which is 2 million euros. Here, we are in the Netherlands, the law is different. But I salute the position of BPI, the public investment bank that sits on the board as a director and has rejected this envelope. It is a responsible decision. From now on we must succeed in convincing the two other major shareholders, the Peugeot family and the Agnelli family.
“Le problème est que John Elkann, le représentant de la famille Agnelli, préside le conseil de cette société et qu’il perçoit lui aussi une rémunération stratosphérique. 7 millions d’euros pour un président de council, c’est beaucoup too much.”
Loic Dessaintat franceinfo
We hope that things will move, that the directors will engage with shareholders to understand the reasons for this rejection and that they will adjust Carlos Tavares’ remuneration policy.
