Woolworths shareholders have called on chairman Gordon Cairns to negotiate a new exit package for outgoing chief executive Grant O’Brien amid growing unrest over his multimillion dollar golden handshake.
Mr Cairns, who has been meeting shareholders ahead of Woolworths’ annual general meeting on November 26, has been told that Mr O’Brien’s retirement package is inappropriate, given the decline in shareholder returns over the last few years.
Shareholders say Mr Cairns or Mr O’Brien should negotiate a new package that reflects Mr O’Brien’s significant contribution to Woolworths over the last 28 years but also reflects the destruction in shareholder value since he took the helm in October 2011.
(Source: The Sydney Morning Herald Online )