Drug giant AstraZeneca has suffered a “major shareholder rebellion” over proposals to raise bonus levels for its bosses, including CEO Pascal Soriot (pictured), says Julia Bradshaw in The Daily Telegraph. While the proposals were passed, over 40% of AstraZeneca’s investors voted against them.
Soriot is a “talented chief” whose performance “actually lives up to the multimillion-pound billing” and his pay isn’t excessive compared with his contemporaries at Roche or Pfizer, says Helen Thomas in the Financial Times. Still, investors rightly worry that the dynamic in the AstraZeneca boardroom has “tipped” in favour of its “superstar boss”, who is now “being feted as the saviour of the UK’s health and economy”. The increased size and complexity that AstraZeneca is taking on with its $39bn takeover of Alexion, which shareholders also approved at the meeting, could prompt Soriot to demand even more money in future.
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