So far, investors aren't fighting back to change CEO pay levels

By Rachel Beck, Associated Press
NEW YORK — This was the year corporate governance experts predicted that investors, stung by plunging stock prices as the recession intensified, would finally demand big changes in CEO pay levels and ineffective boards.
But so far during this spring's annual meeting season, there have been few examples of investors fighting back. Shareholders have yet to vote down a single executive pay plan at U.S. companies and only a handful of corporate directors have lost investor backing. Support for corporate management is still the status quo.

"It turns out (U.S.) shareholders may be more accepting of how things work than the perception really is," said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

In contrast, five companies in England already have lost shareholder votes on executive pay this year. The latest came Tuesday when oil company Royal Dutch Shell Group's pay plan was rejected. There was also significant dissent, though not by a majority, at three other British companies, according to RiskMetrics, a financial risk management company.

That kind of activism comes six years after what is known as "say on pay" was first used by British shareholders. While those votes don't require boards to take any action, they still allow investors to make themselves heard.