Overland Park, KS A majority of Sprint Corporation (NYSE: FON) shareholders voted in favor of a "Golden Parachute" proposal at the company's annual meeting on May 13.
The proposal, presented by Amalgamated Bank's LongView Collective Investment FundSM, seeks shareholder approval for executive severance agreements that are more than two times an executive's annual base pay plus bonus. Such generous severance packages are known as "golden parachutes."
The measure passed with 63% of the yes-and-no votes cast. Last year, 49.9% of shareholder votes cast were in favor of a similar provision.
"Shareholders have had to be persistent on this issue at Sprint. The vote count this year is going to be very hard for the board to ignore," said Melissa Moye, Chief Economist for Amalgamated's Trust and Investment Services Group.
"It is unfortunate that a shareholder approval process has not already been put into place for large executive severance agreements," said Moye. "A clear process of review discourages arrangements that ultimately cannot withstand public investor scrutiny." Last year's proxy materials show that past severance packages at Sprint were valued at over $400 million in 2000.
The LongView Fund owns 300,415 shares of Sprint (FON) common stock and 335,748 shares of Sprint PCS (PCS) common stock.
The LongView Collective Investment Fund is managed by Amalgamated Bank, which provides trustee, investment advisory and custodial services. Assets under management total $6 billion. Amalgamated Bank can be found online at http://www.amalgamatedonline.com/.