FT社評：高管巨額薪酬公平嗎？

What can a person do that is worth a third of a billion dollars? A retirement announcement from Kenneth Chenault, chief executive of American Express, prompts the question. This month he said he would leave the company next year, after 17 years as chief. His compensation as CEO to date runs to $370m in shares and cash, an average of $22m a year.

一個人做什么事情能價值3億多美元?美國運通(American Express)首席執(zhí)行官陳納德(Ken Chenault)上月發(fā)表的退休聲明引發(fā)了這一問題。陳納德表示，他在擔任17年首席執(zhí)行官之后將于明年退休。他擔任首席執(zhí)行官獲得的股票和現金薪酬至今總計達到3.7億美元，平均一年2200萬美元。

The sum is all the more stunning in that it is not unusual for someone running a big company (American Express’s market capitalisation is over $80bn). The average S&P 500 CEO earned more than $10m in 2016. These vast sums raise questions of fairness. Is it possible that one person in a very large organisation can generate that much value? Can we tell if they do?

更令人震驚的是，這種薪酬對大公司老總來說并不罕見——美國運通的市值超過800億美元。標普500(S&P 500)公司首席執(zhí)行官在2016年的平均收入為逾1000萬美元。這些龐大的收入數字令人質疑公平性。一家超大型機構中的某一個人有可能創(chuàng)造那么大的價值嗎?我們能分辨出他們創(chuàng)造沒創(chuàng)造價值嗎?

American Express is a private company. What it pays its employees is for its board to decide and its shareholders to approve. Regulating upper limits on pay is a poor fit with a liberal society. But as with any price, it is worth asking whether companies, and the wider society, are getting value.

美國運通是一家私人公司。其員工薪酬方案由董事會決定并由股東批準。規(guī)定薪資上限與自由社會不符。但不管薪酬多高，都有必要問問公司以及更廣泛的社會是否獲得了價值。

The best argument in favour of high pay is that even a small movement in the value of a large company can be very significant. If the head of a $100bn company increases its value by 1 per cent a year, then she is creating $1bn in value. At $10m a year, she is a bargain.

支持高薪的最佳理由是，大公司的價值即便小幅上升那也可能非?？捎^。如果一家1000億美元公司的老總每年將其價值提升1%，那她就創(chuàng)造了10億美元的價值。如果她的薪酬是1000萬美元，那請她就很劃算。

The argument has two problems. First, it is hard to see where the argument stops. Apple’s value is approaching $1tn. Should Tim Cook, then, be paid $10bn a year? If not, why not? (he took home $9m last year). In a world increasingly dominated by huge companies, the argument from corporate size justifies sums that would make the steeliest capitalist blanch.

這種觀點有兩個問題。首先，很難看到這種觀點的邊界在哪里。蘋果(Apple)的價值接近1萬億美元。那么就得每年給蒂姆•庫克(Tim Cook) 100億美元?如果不給這么多，又是為什么呢?(他去年的薪資是900萬美元。)在一個日益由大公司主導的世界里，這種用企業(yè)規(guī)模支持的觀點將會導致出現讓最堅定的資本家都會為之色變的薪酬。

Second, it is very hard to isolate the contribution of CEO skill when setting pay. Links to share performance means CEO pay will depend on market cycles. Benchmarking stock performance against peers helps, but only within limits. American Express shares, for example, have handily outperformed the broader financial sector over Mr Chenault’s tenure. But that is largely down to the fact that it is not a bank (bank shares were hammered in the crisis). American Express shares have badly underperformed those of the credit card networks MasterCard and Visa. But its business model is very different from theirs. Benchmarking will always leave room for judgment.

其次，在設定薪酬的時候很難理清首席執(zhí)行官技能的貢獻。與股票表現掛鉤意味著首席執(zhí)行官薪酬將取決于市場周期。將股票表現與同業(yè)比較會有所幫助，但幫助有限。例如，美國運通股票在陳納德任職期間的表現輕易地超過了金融板塊。但這在很大程度上得益于它不是一家銀行的事實——銀行股在危機期間暴跌。美國運通股票表現遠遜于萬事達(MasterCard)和Visa等信用卡網絡公司。但美國運通的商業(yè)模式與它們截然不同?；鶞时容^總是會留下判斷的空間。

Using profit metrics instead of share performance, similarly, exposes CEO pay to the whims of input prices, exchange rates and technological advancements.

類似地，使用利潤指標而非股票表現會讓首席執(zhí)行官薪酬受到投入價格、匯率和技術進步的影響。

A final problem is that — again because at large companies even huge pay packages are small relative to total company value — shareholders have a limited incentive to push back on pay. Board members, too, have little reason make a fuss about a high-pay culture that has also served them well.

最后一個問題是，股東抵制高薪的動力有限——這同樣是因為，在大公司即使是巨額薪酬與公司總體價值相比也相對較小。董事會成員也幾乎沒有理由對同樣讓他們受益的高薪文化大驚小怪。

None of this is to argue that CEO skill is not important, or that it is completely invisible. Nor is it to argue that pay is totally arbitrary. The components of sensible pay structure are increasingly well understood: pay the boss largely in stock that must be held for many years. De-emphasise options and short term performance incentives. Do all of this transparently. This should increase fairness and improve corporate performance. But it does not ensure that CEO pay fully corresponds to value creation.

這些并不是說首席執(zhí)行官技能不重要或者完全不可見，也不是說薪酬是完全隨意的。對合理的薪酬結構有越來越大的共識：向首席執(zhí)行官支付以股票為主的薪酬，他們必須持有多年。不以期權和短期業(yè)績激勵為重點。薪酬安排透明公開。這應該會增加公平性和提高企業(yè)業(yè)績。但它不會確保首席執(zhí)行官薪酬完全與價值創(chuàng)造相匹配。

The lesson is that while proper incentives and full transparency are important, an element of judgment and a sense of proportion will always be required on the part of boards. There is such a thing as too much. Rules, guidelines and procedures cannot absolve us from recognising it when we see it.

教訓在于，盡管正確的激勵和完全透明很重要，但董事會總是必須做出主觀判斷和有一種比例感。確實存在過高的薪酬。即使有規(guī)則、指引和程序，我們在看到過高薪酬的時候還是會直接認定它過高。