甲骨文股东要求CEO埃里森减工资

    或许，错就错在董事会。虽然存在杰弗里•亨利这位独立董事长，但是董事会似乎不愿意反抗埃里森。当然，独立董事长的问题在于，他根本没有独立性。亨利曾经在这家公司担任了13年的首席财务官。这家公司的代理委托书显示，现在他仍然“定期与公司的重要客户会面，在完成全球主要商业交易中发挥着重要作用。”只要合理定义“独立董事”这个词，亨利无论如何都算不上独立董事，而是一名高管。在甲骨文由11人组成的董事会中，除埃里森外，还有三名公司高管。此外，甲骨文董事会有六名董事在任的时间已经超过了十年，这么长的任期也使得独立性几乎成为不可能。

    这是《财富》美国500强中最排外的董事会之一。但是，它还能忽视股东的要求多久？

    与其他决议不同，“代理参与”决议具有约束力。近期，纳伯斯工业公司（Nabors Industries）和切萨皮克能源公司（Chesapeake Energy）通过了类似的决议，导致了公司董事的大换血。如果甲骨文公司也通过代理参与决议，这些享有终身职位的董事可能就得走人。届时，埃里森也的薪酬很可能会大幅缩水。（财富中文网）

    译者：乔树静/汪皓

    Perhaps it is the board that is at fault, then. It certainly seems reluctant to stand up to Ellison, despite the presence of an independent chairman, Jeffrey Henley. The problem with the independent chairman, of course, is that he is not independent at all. Henley was CFO at Oracle for 13 years and, according to the company’s proxy filing, still “meets regularly with significant Oracle customers and is instrumental in closing major commercial transactions worldwide.” That’s not an independent director by any sensible definition of the word; that’s an executive. Including Ellison, there are three other executives on the 11-person board. In addition, six directors have been on the board for more than 10 years, a tenure that makes independence very unlikely.

    This is one of the clubbiest boards in the Fortune 500. But how long can it continue to ignore shareholder demands?

    Unlike the other resolutions, the “proxy access” resolution is binding. Similar resolutions recently passed at Nabors Industries and Chesapeake Energy, leading to wholesale director replacements. If it passes at Oracle, these tenured directors may be given the boot. And then Ellison could very well see a sizable pay cut.