Stellantis ignores its shareholders

The Stellantis CEO’s $59 million salary package is wrong, and not just for the obvious reasons. More than 52% of shareholders have voted against it, but Carlos Tavares will receive it anyway, as the board has ignored investor complaints, as is customary under Dutch company law. It’s as big a problem as the size of the package.

The outrage of politicians would have been predictable, even if France were not in electoral mode. Tavares will receive 19 million for 2021, in addition to shares worth more than 40 million that will be granted over the years. Such a high sum confirms the absence of political sensitivity in the leaders of the motor.

The president of Stellantis, and heir to the Agnellis, John Elkann, promised to take “into account” the revolt. But he didn’t say how. This exposes the deeper anomaly: if shareholders’ wishes can be so blithely ignored, why bother asking them?