Novartis said it would scrap a 72 million Swiss franc (€58.4 million) pay package for outgoing chairman Daniel Vasella, bowing to mounting anger in Switzerland before an investor meeting on Friday.
The move represents a victory for the drugmaker’s Swiss shareholders such as Geneva-based Ethos Fund, which had campaigned against paying Vasella 12 million francs (€9.7 million) over six years to prevent him from working for competitors.
“We continue to believe in the value of a non-compete, however, we believe the decision to cancel the agreement and all related compensation addresses the concerns of shareholders and other stakeholders,” Novartis vice chairman Ulrich Lehner said in a statement yesterday.
Vasella, long a lightning rod for criticism of executive pay in Switzerland, said in the statement he understood that Swiss people found the compensation too high. Vasella earned 13.1 million francs (€10.6 million) for 2012, down slightly from 13.5 million francs (€10.9 million) the prior year.
Vasella’s golden parachute attracted a raft of criticism from top-ranking Swiss politicians and members of the country’s pro-business lobby, against the backdrop of a March 3 referendum to give shareholders a veto over excessive manager pay.
Polls published on Sunday showed almost two-thirds of Swiss voters favoured the initiative.