Shareholders Support Teamsters' Call For Independent Board Leadership At McKesson

Independent Board Chair Proposal Garners Majority Vote from Investors

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, a majority of the shares cast at the McKesson Corporation [NYSE:  MCK] Annual Meeting of Shareholders supported the International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund's shareholder proposal calling for an independent chairman of the board. McKesson officials at the annual meeting would not provide a preliminary vote tally but told shareholders that the proposal had passed.

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"The Teamsters take heart in the fact that shareholders are increasingly viewing independent board leadership as a necessary best corporate governance practice," said Ken Hall, General Secretary-Treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a long-term McKesson shareholder. "I call on McKesson's board of directors to act on this vote, serve the best interests of shareholders, adopt the proposal as policy and promote higher standards of board oversight of management. The McKesson board has heeded the will of shareholders on other Teamster proposals on executive compensation in the past decade and we expect them to do the right thing once again."   

McKesson investors have been deeply concerned with board oversight since 1999, when the company was the center of an accounting fraud scandal that resulted in a single day loss of $9 billion of shareholder value and paid out nearly $1 billion in shareholder lawsuit settlements. Extraordinarily high executive compensation is another chief concern for company shareholders. 

Chairman and CEO John Hammergren's total summary compensation is nearly $40 million, more than four times the median total compensation for the other named executive officers at McKesson. This compensation includes more than $6 million in time-vesting stock options that entail no performance criteria as well as perquisites such as home and personal security, financial counseling services and personal use of company-provided aircraft. And if he lost his position due to a change of control his potential compensation is estimated at $307 million—182 times his current salary.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters.

 

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