Houston-based Halliburton Co. shareholders voiced approval of the company’s executive compensation and passed a measure changing compensation structure at the company going forward at an annual meeting this week.
The shareholder approvals are a shift from last year’s annual meeting, in which shareholders voted against the executive compensation measure for the first time in Halliburton’s history.
This year’s measure passed with 399.83 million votes for versus 238.06 million votes against, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
After the 2018 vote failed to pass, Halliburton said in a press release that the company was disappointed by the result and that it would continue to engage with shareholders on executive compensation issues.
The company did not respond to a request for comment on how those engagements went or what it thinks caused shareholders to change their minds this year.
Compensation changes
Changes to Halliburton’s stock and incentive plan also passed with 574.69 million votes for versus 63.84 million against.
The changes replenish the company’s stock available for distribution under its compensation plan, adding 25 million shares, but they also cap distribution of options and stock to 1 million shares per employee each year, according to the proxy.
The proposed changes also would limit the cash value of certain kinds of performance awards to $30 million for any given employee per year, according to the proxy. That’s well above the total compensation from all sources for the highest paid employee, CEO Jeff Miller, in 2018.
The company's executive chairman and former longtime CEO, Dave Lesar, retired at the start of this year, ceding the top spot on Halliburton's board to Miller.