More and more corporations are sounding a retreat on bloated severance pay agreements in the face of fierce pressure from shareholders, proxy advisory firms, and others fed up with excessive amounts of executive compensation.
The average value of such change-in-control payments has plummeted roughly 40 percent in the last two years, according to a study of 200 public companies conducted by New York-based consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal. True, a considerable part of that decline can be blamed on the lousy stock market, since equity compensation does account for a large portion of golden parachute payments, says Brian Cumberland, head ...