Alcatel-Lucent Slashes Bonuses for Former CEO
September 11 2015 - 7:20AM
Dow Jones News
PARIS—Alcatel-Lucent SA has bowed to weeks of political pressure
and agreed to slash in the half the bonuses to be paid to former
Chief Executive Michel Combes, underscoring the pressure on French
companies to rein in executive pay.
Alcatel-Lucent said on Friday that its board has decided to
grant Mr. Combes a maximum of €7.9 million in total cash
bonuses—including a long-term compensation bonus and payment for a
noncompete clause—following the sale of the company to Nokia Corp
which he oversaw. That compares with a previous stock-and-cash
package worth roughly €14 million, at current prices, over several
years.
The payments to Mr. Combes, who left the company on September 1
to take top jobs working for telecom tycoon Patrick Drahi, could be
lower depending on the Alcatel-Lucent's performance in 2015,
Alcatel-Lucent said.
The decision to reduce Mr. Combes's compensation follows a
public outcry when details were first disclosed in the French press
in late August. Politicians and union figures decried a "golden
parachute" for an executive who had sold off a French industrial
icon after being on staff for scarcely more than two years.
Alcatel defended the payments, saying Mr. Combes had helped save
the company from bankruptcy and found a buyer that would keep a
significant presence in France. But after criticism from a pair of
business groups, saying that the compensation didn't follow their
recommended norms, the company said it had reviewed the
compensation "with the full support and at the request of Mr.
Combes."
The new package converts the long term stock award into a
maximum bonus of €4.8 million, and reduces a €4.5 million
noncompete contract to €3.1 million, to be paid in installments
through the end of 2018.
Altice Group, Mr. Drahi's telecom holding company, has appointed
Mr. Combes as its chief operating officer and as chairman of French
unit Numericable-SFR.
An Alcatel spokeswoman didn't make Mr. Combes available for
comment. Altice officials weren't immediately available for
comment.
Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 11, 2015 07:05 ET (11:05 GMT)
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