Spineless investors back golden hellos

Sometimes shareholders are spineless. Talk to them privately and it is hard to find anyone who thinks golden hellos for new executives are a good idea. But give them a case to vote on and where are they? At Unilever's annual meeting today, they had the chance to vote on a £680,000 wad and free shares worth £2.6m handed to new finance director Jean-Marc Huet to lure him from Bristol-Myers Squibb. They could also have voted against the re-election of Jeroen van der Veer, the chairman of the remuneration committee who rubber stamped the payment. What do they do? Just 12% failed to support the remuneration report and a mere 2% failed to back van der Veer. That is shameful and no disincentive for any other company considering paying a golden hello.