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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today issued the following statement after shareholders at Home Depot voted on a measure to allow them to ratify the compensation of senior executives. Preliminary reports indicate that the measure received 43 percent of votes cast in its favor at the company’s annual meeting in Atlanta, GA, this morning.

“Over the past several years, Home Depot’s Compensation Committee and its Board of Directors have excessively rewarded the company’s top executives, its former CEO in particular, without regard to the company’s performance and the interests of its shareholders. In recent days, shareholders of Blockbuster and Verizon, cast majority votes to register their deep concern about ballooning executive compensation, and to demonstrate their intent to have a say on senior management pay. While the measure submitted by the New York City Pension Funds did not receive a majority of support, I am heartened that a significant number of Home Depot shareholders today sent a clear message to Home Depot’s Board of Directors to end the unbridled excesses of executive compensation.

Companies in the U.K., Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden already allow their shareholders to cast advisory votes on the compensation report. In the UK, the practice already has helped to improve communications between shareholders and directors, increased investor confidence in the compensation process, and improved linkages between pay and performance. The New York City Pension Funds will continue to urge Home Depot to provide shareholders with this ability, and to adopt such a policy.”

Earlier this year, Thompson announced three resolutions filed on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System specifically calling on the Boards of Directors at Home Depot, Blockbuster and Par Pharmaceutical to adopt a policy that stockholders be given an opportunity at each annual shareholders’ meeting to vote on an advisory resolution to ratify the compensation of named executive officers. The measures note that shareholders should be informed that the vote is non-binding and would not affect any compensation paid or awarded to the named executive officers.

Blockbuster shareholders earlier this month largely cast their votes in favor of the NYCERS measure, which had been submitted for the first time with the company. The resolution was supported by a 57% majority of the total votes cast for and against at the Company's annual meeting in New York City.

NYCERS holds 2.5 million shares valued at approximately $95.8 million in Home Depot, which is based in Atlanta, GA., 28,347 shares valued at more than $767,000 in Par Pharmaceutical, of Woodcliff Lake, NJ, and NYCERS holds 157,000 shares valued at $998,520 in Blockbuster, which is based in Dallas, TX.

In addition to Thompson, NYCERS trustees are: New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark (Chair); New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; Borough Presidents Scott Stringer (Manhattan), Helen Marshall (Queens), Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn), Adolfo Carrion (Bronx), and James Molinaro (Staten Island); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Gregory Floyd, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

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