Google (GOOG) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up June 2. ProxyDemocracy.org had several funds voting. Although I reviewed how they voted, my votes didn’t align with any of the funds.
Checking the Summary Compensation Table, it appears two senior vice presidents (Patrick Pichette and Nikesh Arora) each got more than $22.5 million last year. That’s too much, even for Google, when the median large cap CEO is getting a little more than $9 million. Using the United States Proxy Exchange (USPX) released draft guidelines, I voted against the pay package, against the stock plan and against L. John Doerr and Paul S. Otellini, since they served on the compensation committee. Management wanted a say-when-on-pay frequency of three years but I voted for every year.
Turning to shareowner proposals, I voted in favor of John Harrington’s bylaw to establish a Sustainability Committee. Although Google is doing more than many companies, I think soliciting public input and issuing periodic reports to shareholders and the public, as requested in the proposal, would put Google farther ahead in this important area. I also voted in favor of John Chevedden’s proposal that each shareowner voting requirement impacting our company, that calls for a greater than simple majority vote, be changed to a majority of the votes cast for and against the proposal in compliance with applicable laws. I submitted similar proposals at other companies and see this as good governance to avoid entrenchment.
I voted against the proposal by the National Center for Public Policy Research to report on possible conflicts of interest. Although the proposal sounds good, I think this is the same group that has encouraged companies to account for lobbying costs to support cap and trade programs, so I don’t trust them.
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