TheCorporateCounsel.net

Weil’s Howard Dicker reached out earlier this week to share an interesting and somber “Israeli Proxy Season Update” from ISS, which reviews how the war between Israel and Hamas is affecting Israeli public companies and their governance. This excerpt describes the conflict’s influence on executive compensation practices at some of those companies:

Some public companies have taken notable actions on executive compensation, with Hamashbir 365, Retailors Ltd, Castro Model, Brill Shoe Industries, and Golf & CO Group all announcing that their CEOs and Board Chairs will forgo part of their fixed compensation for 30 days or more. In addition, the CEO of Fox Wizel and certain officers are voluntarily reducing their fixed compensation for Q4 2023, with the possibility to extend based on the evolving conflict situation.

Other companies like Paz Oil have removed one-time bonus proposals from their EGMs (Paz Oil’s special meeting was held on November 14, 2023), while Idomoo has decided to remove several equity compensation items from its annual meeting (held on November 2, 2023). Several companies have announced a reduction in work hours, sending employees on unpaid leave or waiving paid vacation days.

This commentary about changes to executive compensation during a major conflict reminded me of a study on exec comp trends I saw a few years back that said during World War II, executive compensation at US public companies declined by 20%, and that most of that reduction was concentrated among companies’ most highly paid executives.

– John Jenkins