Netflix shareholders voted towards a movement to approve pay packages for the streamer’s high executives, proper after the WGA instructed them to do exactly that.
In a shareholder assembly that streamed Thursday, shareholders voted “no” on a “Say on Pay” proposal that pertained to how a lot compensation Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos and co-founder and board chair Reed Hastings would obtain.
It’s a non-binding vote, so it might be little greater than symbolic by way of how a lot Netflix’s high brass are paid this 12 months, nevertheless it’s uncommon that shareholders would swat it down. Sarandos and Hastings final 12 months every noticed their pay rise to slightly over $50 million every, up from $38 million, in keeping with an SEC submitting from April. The streamer’s inventory plummeted in 2022 after the streamer confronted a serious drop in subscribers.
Netflix held the same vote on government pay again in 2019 and the corporate engaged with its shareholders on alter the pay packages. Final 12 months, solely 27 p.c of shareholders supported the pay package deal.
WGAW president Meredith Stiehm sent a letter to Netflix shareholders Might 31 urging them to vote the proposal down. She additionally despatched the same one to Comcast’s shareholders, which holds its personal assembly subsequent week.
“Whereas buyers have lengthy taken challenge with Netflix’s government pay, the compensation construction is much more egregious towards the backdrop of the strike,” she wrote.
The letter continued: “Netflix’s content material pipeline has been blocked, with dozens of tasks that have been in improvement or ordered to sequence as of Might 1st unable to maneuver ahead till WGA negotiations conclude… “A delay within the writing, manufacturing, and launch of latest content material might impression Netflix’s capacity to draw and retain subscribers and viewers simply as the corporate asks prospects to observe promoting and pay extra for its content material.”
It’s price noting that many shareholders doubtless voted earlier than the letter was despatched. The complete outcomes of the vote can be revealed in a future SEC submitting.
The WGA has made Netflix its high villain of this strike. Picketing exterior of Netflix’s places of work in Hollywood has been a scorching spot for WGA members, whereas deliberate protests disrupted Netflix’s first-ever Upfronts presentation, forcing it to go digital.
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