{"id":529967,"date":"2010-04-16T14:55:36","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T18:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.footnoted.org\/?p=4730"},"modified":"2010-04-16T14:55:36","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T18:55:36","slug":"a-gold-star-for-amgen%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/529967","title":{"rendered":"A Gold Star for Amgen\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gold<\/a>When it\u2019s time to make executive compensation decisions, companies seek input from several sources. Those usually include the Compensation committee, the executives themselves, and outside consulting companies that specialize in researching what other executives at the ubiquitous \u201cpeer companies\u201d earn.<\/p>\n

But Comp committees often act as though shareholders \u2013 like children born in the 1950s \u2013 should be \u201cseen, but not heard.\u201d In fact, in most of the SEC filings we read, directors adamantly oppose shareholder \u201csay on pay\u201d resolutions.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the case, however, at Amgen, Inc.<\/a>, (AMGN) the recipient of today\u2019s coveted footnoted gold star.<\/p>\n

Amgen\u2019s recent proxy<\/a> includes an intriguing \u2013 and, so far as we can tell, unique \u2013 method that invites shareholders to express their thoughts about how the top executives are paid. At the bottom of page 50, here\u2019s what you\u2019ll find:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Obviously this is a cost-effective way of getting input from shareholders, assuming that they read the proxy and then complete the survey.<\/p>\n

But we also found it interesting that Amgen \u2013 a huge company whose NEOs earned total compensation packages in 2009 that ranged from $4.9 million to $15.3 million \u2013 is the company that’s blazing this trail to encourage shareholders to express their opinions.<\/p>\n

We called Amgen’s media relations department to ask why the company took this step and how the response has been to date. \u00a0We haven’t heard back yet; however, if we get an answer, we’ll add it to this post as an update.<\/p>\n

But regardless of Amgen’s reasons for including this concept in its proxy, we think that finding new ways for shareholders to communicate with the companies they invest in is a smart practice. \u00a0Wouldn’t it be great if other companies followed suit?<\/p>\n

Special thanks to Amy A. for bringing this gem to our attention.<\/em><\/p>\n

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When it\u2019s time to make executive compensation decisions, companies seek input from several sources. Those usually include the Compensation committee, the executives themselves, and outside consulting companies that specialize in researching what other executives at the ubiquitous \u201cpeer companies\u201d earn. But Comp committees often act as though shareholders \u2013 like children born in the 1950s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4072,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-529967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}