The shareholders who own Houston-based Halliburton Co., one of the largest oil field equipment and service companies in the world, have voted against the proposed executive compensation plan in an advisory motion, the company said in a statement.
Jeff Miller, president and CEO of Halliburton
Halliburton asks its shareholders to approve its executive pay each year at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. The say-on-pay measure passed without issue in 2019 and 2020, but shareholders voted 344.68 million shares against the approval at the most recent meeting on May 19, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We will carefully consider today’s advisory vote as we evaluate Halliburton’s approach to executive compensation and commit to ongoing engagement with shareholders to understand their perspectives on executive pay," Murry Gerber, chair of the Compensation Committee on Halliburton's board, said in a press release.
Halliburton Chief Executive Officer Jeff Miller said the company was "disappointed by the shareholder advisory vote" and that it had led its peers in shareholder returns despite challenges stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and a supply and demand imbalance in oil markets.
Halliburton did not provide vote tallies. The company revised its executive compensation program in 2019 and received 91% approval of the plan from shareholders last year.
Shares of Halliburton are up about 18% year-to-date to $22.38 as oilfield activity has slowly returned amid higher prices.
