Assailed from all directions by angry shareholders that have seen the value of their shares halve in a year, IBM Corp is considering changing the way it nominates directors and sets pay and bonuses for top executives, according to a string of US press reports. The proposed changes are expected to be discussed today when the board meets in New York, inter alia to decide by how much it must cut the dividend. Sources told the Washington Post that IBM management is working on a plan to link top managers’ pay to performance of the IBM share price – chairman John Akers and other top managers are currently eligible for bonuses based on profits rather than share price. And IBM is said to be considering moving the responsibility for nominating its board to a panel composed entirely of outside directors, where at present the nominating panel comprises three IBM executives and four outsiders. The United Shareholders Association also told the Wall Street Journal that it was briefed about a tentative plan to increase authority of the non-executives.
