Coca-Cola Wins Compensation Vote, Overcoming Winters? Fight
Coca-Cola won the approval of its shareholders to distribute $29.8 billion to the company?s managers with 83% of votes cast. Several voices sought to stay Coke?s plan, namely money manager David Winters and the Ontario Teachers? Pension Plan by arguing that pay packages have outpaced company growth and shareholder returns. The company?s CEO, Muhtar Kent, rebutted saying that paying executives with company stock was strongly in line with the company?s pay-for-performance philosophy. Mr. Kent had seen his total compensation drop from about $30.5 million in 2012 to $20.4 million in 2013. Although Warren Buffett, whose company owns about 9% of Coke, had said that the plan was ?excessive?, Berkshire Hathaway did not participate in the vote.
See "Coca-Cola Wins Compensation Vote, Overcoming Winters? Fight", Noah Buhayar & Laura Marcinek, Bloomberg News, April 23, 2014