The Labour Party (PvdA) in Parliament is not happy with the amount of money the NXP CEO Rick Clemmer, receives with the acquisition of his company by the US Qualcomm.
Henk Nijboer of the party tells the AD (newspaper Algemeen Dagblad) it’s ‘unexplicable’ that the CEO receives a sum of 428 million dollar (391 million euro) in the deal, calculated by the Financieele Dagblad (Financial newspaper). It is the largest amount ever received for a top executive through an acquisition.
The PvdA wants the Cabinet to examine the legislation surrounding mergers and acquisitions. A Claw Back legislation exists which makes it possible to recover high bonuses in some cases. ‘As PvdA we want to rein in remuneration, we already have the highest bonus legislation in Europe,’ says Nijboer.
The Labour Party isn’t the only party that is outraged by the amount of money the CEO receives. In the Financieele Dagblad, Socialist Party (SP) member Sharon Gesthuizen says: ‘I have no words for it and I wonder if this is in the interest of the company.’
Kees Verhoeven from the Democrats (D66) tells the newspaper the amount is ‘bizarre’. But politics can do little, according to him. ‘We can only make a moral appeal not to accept such amounts, and hope that this man pays his taxes in the Netherlands.’
Both parties think it’s time for the Dutch government to investigate the subsidies received by NXP and demand a specifications list.
Clemmer works for the chip maker since 2008, and was appointed CEO in the same year. Nijboer: ‘Work a few years and then collect 428 million through shares and options, it seems like the times of Rijkman Groenink and Jan Bennink have returned.’ Groenink, Chairman of ABN AMRO, and Bennink, head of Numico, received a “golden handshake” of respectively 32 and 63 million euro.
On Thursday it was announced that the US Qualcomm would take over the Eindhoven company NXP for 43 billion euro ($47 billion).
Source: Studio040
Translator: Cyril Chorus
