Xero shareholders reject executive pay report
More than 70 percent voted against the remuneration report at its annual shareholder meeting.
Xero shareholders have strongly rejected the company's remuneration report at their annual meeting, with over 70% voting against it. The report outlines how directors and senior executives, including CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, were compensated, including salaries, bonuses, and share-based incentives. A controversy arose over a revised remuneration structure for Cassidy, increasing her total remuneration from $15.2 million to $18.5 million.
Xero's share price has dropped by roughly half over the past year, despite solid operational performance. Singh Cassidy recently sold her remaining direct shares, worth about $1.9 million, to meet personal tax obligations. The resolution is advisory and non-binding, so it won't prevent Cassidy's revised pay structure from taking effect.
Major proxy advisers advised shareholders to vote against the report, citing concerns like unadjusted incentive payments, excessive equity tied to length of service, and Cassidy's recent share sale. Xero's People and Remuneration Committee chair, Susan Peterson, acknowledged that poor share price performance significantly impacted the vote outcome and that the board respected the feedback.
The board will consider the voting outcome and comments from proxy advisers and investors when developing future remuneration strategies. Peterson told shareholders the board understands the frustration over the company's share price performance, but emphasized that Xero must pay competitively to attract and retain top global technology executives.
The shareholder backlash follows criticism from some customers over price hikes and handling of major platform outages.
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