????早在2010年,，包括NECA-IBEW福利信托基金（NECA-IBEW Welfare Trust Fund）和夏威夷勞工養(yǎng)老基金（Hawaii Laborers Pension Fund）在內(nèi)的一部分強生股東就把強生告上了法庭，認為強生董事會忽視了已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)的危險信號,。一位地區(qū)法官駁回了上訴,，不過她也指出，她認為股東們對董事會的意見“令人憂心且普遍存在”,。
????董事會在強生2011年的股東委托書中表揚了強生CEO威廉?韋爾頓處理召回事件中的表現(xiàn)，說他2010年的表現(xiàn)“基本滿足了預(yù)期”,，并補充稱，“韋爾登先生的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力,，以及他對員工、立法者,、監(jiān)管機構(gòu)、投資者和新聞媒體所做的工作使公司得以應(yīng)對這些問題,?！?/p>
????不過在2010年的許多時間里,，韋爾頓都盡量躲著媒體。第一次針對產(chǎn)品召回表態(tài)時,，他表示那是僅限于McNeil工廠的孤立事件。不久之后,，強生又對旗下Depuy部門生產(chǎn)的人工髖關(guān)節(jié)植入物實施了召回,。2010年4月,，強生的一位發(fā)言人表示,，韋爾頓并不認為McNeil“召回門”與公司的削減成本政策有關(guān),。而7月強生公司就發(fā)布了一份報告，承認公司通過強力推行裁員等措施進行的成本削減是導(dǎo)致出現(xiàn)質(zhì)量問題的原因之一,。
????不過該報告也表示,，強生的官員和董事們并沒有違反他們的信托責(zé)任,，并承諾將成立一個新的法規(guī)遵從委員會。強生的一位發(fā)言人在一封電子郵件中寫道：“公司管理層非常重視股東的意見和批評?！?/p>
薪酬過高惹眾怒
????韋爾頓的薪水也是強生投資者們的一塊心病，可能這也是導(dǎo)致他們對董事會越來越不滿的主要原因,。強生薪酬委員會的成員們尤其不受股東的歡迎,。這個薪酬委員會的成員除了上文提到的普林斯和瓊斯之外,，還包括施樂公司（Xerox）前CEO安妮?麥卡伊和箭牌（Wm. Wrigley Jr.）前CEO威廉?皮雷茲。薪酬委員會的主席普林斯本人就曾在從花旗集團離職時拿走了高達1億美元的遣散費,。
????股東顧問服務(wù)公司ISS建議它的客戶對強生的薪酬政策投反對票：“雖然強生的聲譽不斷受到挑戰(zhàn),，但公司對其CEO的薪酬標(biāo)準(zhǔn)缺乏判斷力?！毖芯繖C構(gòu)Equilar指出，韋爾頓去年的薪水是2,340萬美元,，在所有大公司里,，比他薪水更多的CEO只有12個人（他的基本薪水還提高了3%）,。另外強生最近還透露,，韋爾頓在退休時將獲得超過1.4億美元的福利和遞延報酬,。
????2011年是《多德弗蘭克法案》（Dodd-Frank Act）賦予股東“薪酬發(fā)言權(quán)”的第一年，有39%的強生股東投票反對公司的薪酬方案,。后來強生修改了方案，把重點放在績效工資上,。不過美國州,、郡,、市聯(lián)合工會（AFSCME）的代表表示，韋爾頓的薪水仍然超標(biāo),。該工會的資本戰(zhàn)略主任麗薩?林斯利認為：“對于那些負責(zé)制定高管薪酬的人來說，他們自己對薪酬方案做出的調(diào)整具有里程碑式的意義,，但對于股東來說還不夠,。”
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????A group of J&J shareholders, including the NECA-IBEW Welfare Trust Fund and the Hawaii Laborers Pension Fund, sued the board in 2010, arguing that directors had ignored red flags. A U.S. District judge dismissed the complaint, but noted in her opinion that the shareholders' allegations against the board were "troubling and pervasive."
????In J&J's 2011 proxy statement, the board praised J&J's CEO, William Weldon, for his handling of the recalls. The statement said Weldon "generally met expectations" in 2010, adding, "Mr. Weldon's leadership and engagement with employees, legislators, regulators, investors and the news media enabled the company to deal with the issues."
????During a significant portion of 2010, though, Weldon avoided the press. When he first addressed the recalls, he said that they were isolated to the company's McNeil unit; not long after that, J&J issued recalls of hip implants made by its DePuy division. In April 2010, a J&J spokesperson said Weldon didn't think that cost cutting played a role in McNeil's problems. The following July, J&J released a report that conceded that the company's push to cut costs through layoffs had contributed to its quality woes.
????The report also said that J&J's officers and directors had not breached their fiduciary duties, and pledged to create a new regulatory compliance committee. In an email, a J&J spokesperson wrote, "The Company's management takes the shareholder concerns and criticisms very seriously."
Excessive pay
????Weldon's compensation is a sore spot for J&J investors, and may be the primary source of their growing dissatisfaction with the board. The directors on the compensation committee last year -- which, in addition to Prince and Johns, included former Xerox (XRX) CEO Anne Mulcahy and former Wm. Wrigley Jr. CEO William Perez -- were particularly unpopular with voters. Prince, who famously walked away from Citigroup with about $100 million, is the compensation committee's chairman.
????ISS told its clients to vote against the company's pay policy, citing a "lack of negative discretion on CEO's pay magnitude despite ongoing reputational challenges." Weldon took home $23.4 million last year, according to research firm Equilar, making him the 13th highest paid leader of a large company (he received a 3% bump in his base salary). J&J recently disclosed that Weldon is set to receive more than $140 million worth of benefits and deferred compensation when he retires.
????In 2011 -- the first year that the Dodd-Frank Act mandated "Say-on-Pay" votes -- 39% of J&J's shareholders voted against its compensation plan. The company responded by changing its program, focusing more on performance-based pay. But representatives from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) say Weldon's pay package was still excessive. "To the executives at J&J who deal with executive compensation, the changes they made were monumental. For shareholders, they just weren't enough," says Lisa Lindsley, the union's director of capital strategies. |
