It took six months from when shareholders asked for it, but Pfizer's
Well, an advisory vote, anyway, which is slightly better than nothing, I guess. Shareholders' first vote will be at the annual meeting next year -- sorry, you'll have to wait another six months to act. And then they'll get to vote every year after that.
Unlike some fellow Fools, I'm not convinced that say on pay is worth the effort. While companies including Blockbuster
Here's my take: If you don't like it that Pfizer gave its chief financial officer a $1.2 million bonus for getting the Wyeth merger completed while cutting about 20,000 lower-level positions, sell your shares, 'cause that's pretty scary. Some will say that you could try to work from the inside to change things, but I think there are too many potential investments to bother. Most people -- Carl Icahn excluded -- wouldn't buy shares in a poorly run company and then try to turn it around. Why is changing executive pay any different?
And I'm not sure how easy it would be to change even if you wanted to. As Whole Foods'
I guess the secret to finding good companies with lower-paid executives is to find companies and executives who don't care as much about that part of their status. There are some out there -- Mackey is paid just $1 a year. Please share others that you know and love in the comments box below.
An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect bonus size for Pfizer's CFO. The Fool regrets this error.