Walmart has low prices — unless you’re talking about the prices of its top execs.
That’s the message from the retail giant’s independent shareholders, with more than a third of them voting against the company’s “say on pay” proposals at last week’s annual meeting, according to a securities filing late Tuesday.
Nearly 35 percent voted to protest Walmart’s bonuses for former CEO Mike Duke and current CEO Doug McMillon, which critics said were easily attained after the company moved the goal posts as its performance faltered.
That’s nearly 10 times the opposition seen a year earlier, according to public filings.
“This is an indictment of Walmart’s pay practices and a further sign that investors are losing confidence in this board in the wake of sagging performance and the bribery scandal,” said Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of the union-backed CtW Investment Group.
A Walmart spokesman noted that the company’s executive compensation plan was approved by 86 percent of the shareholder vote when including the 51 percent of outstanding shares controlled by the Walton family.
“We are a pay performance company, which was reflected in an overall reduction in our executives’ pay last year,” spokesman Randy Hargrove said.
Critics note, however, that because of lowered performance hurdles, bonuses didn’t decline nearly as much last year as the company’s financials did.
A final tally of votes from Walmart’s annual shareholder meeting held last week also showed unprecedented opposition against key directors, including Chairman Rob Walton, who saw 29 percent of independent voters opposed to his re-election.
A full 40 percent of shares not controlled by the founding Walton family voted that Walton be replaced by an independent chairman. Last week, Walmart appeared to thumb its nose at that proposal by appointing Walton’s son-in-law as his heir apparent to helm the board.
“It’s déjà vu all over again in terms of high votes against directors and, unfortunately for Walmart’s shareowners, the board’s cynical response,” said New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, whose city pension funds voted against 6 of Walmart’s 14 directors.
Walmart shares, which have trailed the S&P 500 over the last one-year and five-year periods, are down 2.6 percent this year. They closed Tuesday down 0.5 percent to $76.62.