Say on pay? No at Qwest, yes at Sprint

Qwest Communications shareholders meeting this week in Denver voted down a proposal that would have given a “say on pay” advisory vote for compensation for some company executives. Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel shareholders convening at their own annual meeting in Overland Park, Kan., voted to approve a similar measure.

These actions came just days after AT&T shareholders defeated a “say on pay” proposal for the fourth consecutive year. Sprint joins Verizon as companies whose shareholders have supported “say on pay” advisory votes. (The Sprint vote still needs formal approval as board policy before becoming effective.) Verizon shareholders meeting last week in Little Rock, Ark., used their advisory vote to approve executive compensation, despite a plea from the Association of BellTel Retirees to disapprove.

Such proposals have cropped up in recent years, as complaining about lavish CEO compensation has become popular sport — perhaps even more popular than usual — among telco shareholders. The final tally of this week’s Qwest vote had 51% of shareholders against, though the margin of defeat was not as slim as that number suggests. Only about 31% voted in favor of “say on pay,” with about 18% abstaining. It was the second straight year such a proposal has failed. At Sprint, just over 52% of shareholders approved “say on pay.”

In other news from Qwest’s shareholder meeting, investors also voted down a proposal to separate the CEO and chairman jobs at the company, both currently held by Edward Mueller. The proposal would seem moot in light of Qwest's pending merger with CenturyLink.

Meanwhile, shareholders did approve a proposal to allow any shareholder with 10% or more of company stock to call special meetings to discuss possible corporate takeovers. This measure would seemingly allow an activist shareholder to introduce a potential merger partner other than CenturyLink, though Qwest’s board of directors must now formalize the measure in company bylaws for it to become effective, and it is unclear that will happen before the CenturyLink deal closes.