Carl Icahn weighed in today on the on-going controversy of CEO compensation. Icahn wrote on his blog today,
We need better corporate governance in this country. We can’t afford the kind of mismanagement that got us into a financial crisis that nearly caused an economic collapse.
Paulson’s plan is a baby step in reforming executive pay but I have a better idea: why don’t we give shareholders of any bank accepting a government bailout the immediate right to call a special shareholders meeting to elect new board members?
In my view, it was the boards of directors at institutions like Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, AIG and others that failed to stop management from pursuing risky strategies that crippled their firms.
Frequently controversial and often times self-serving, Icahn continues to press for major governance related changes at public companies. We will have to wait and see if he can have any kind of impact on the bailout as it relates to executive compensation.
Stay tuned.
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