It is AGM season in the US and, as ever, boardroom pay tops the agenda at many shareholder meetings.
Rebel investors in the finance giant Morgan Stanley, for example, were trying to push through a “say on pay” resolution yesterday that would help them rein in executives such as the bank’s chief executive, John Mack, who took home $41.4m (£21m) last year.
Mr Mack, though, could plead poverty, Wall Street-style, for – just as Morgan Stanley shareholders were gathering for coffee, pastries and a chance to browbeat management – the rest of the financial community was agog over the latest pay survey covering the much more secretive world of hedge funds.
There are no letters to shareholders detailing the pay of these superstar fund managers, only awe-filled whispers, accidental late night boasts and educated guesswork – all compiled in the annual Trader Monthly 100 list.
