Last year, the average remuneration of CAC 40 executives stood at 7.1 million euros, an increase of 6% compared to the previous year and 37% compared to 2019. This trend arouses questions about the place of performance shares and exceptional bonuses in the remuneration of big French bosses.
The record salaries of CAC 40 executives
According to the report from the consulting firm Proxinvest, managers of large companies listed on the CAC 40 stock index saw their emoluments reach an average of 7.1 million euros in 2023. This level exceeds that observed before the health crisis, where the average annual amount of remuneration amounted to 5.2 million euros. These figures reflect a significant increase in a context of economic recovery and return to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Proxinvest firm specifies that this sum represents the equivalent of 304 times the minimum wage in France. The structure of this remuneration is divided into several components, including fixed salary, annual bonuses, and above all allocations of shares and options, the value of which experienced strong growth in 2023. For the managers of the SBF 120, which brings together 120 listed French companies, the average remuneration reaches 4.3 million euros, up 2% compared to 2022 and 17% compared to 2019.
Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systèmes, is at the top of the highest earners, with a record remuneration of 46.8 million euros, the majority of which is based on performance shares valued at 43.8 million euros. This share system, based on the future valuation of the company, often generates a significant part of the income of CAC 40 managers.
Exceptional bonuses and loyalty bonuses also play a determining role in the increase in remuneration. Ilham Kadri, general director of Solvay, thus received 23 million euros, largely thanks to an “exceptional bonus” of 12 million, granted for having piloted the split of his group into two entities.
The weight of exceptional bonuses
In third position, Carlos Tavares, general manager of Stellantis, has remuneration of 17.8 million euros, including 9.4 million euros in performance shares. This sum, although approved at the general meeting by a majority of shareholders, caused controversy, with only 64% of minority shareholders supporting the resolution on his salary.
The Proxinvest report also emphasizes the rapid evolution of fixed salaries of managers, which has now reached a historic level. For the CAC 40, this fixed component amounts on average to 1.34 million euros, while it reaches 970,685 euros for the SBF 120. Since 2008, the remuneration of big bosses has increased by 43.9% for the CAC 40, and by 35.6% for the SBF 120.
This observation echoes the expectations of institutional investors, who often question the relevance of performance bonuses over periods considered short. The case of Philippe Guillemot, CEO of Vallourec, illustrates this trend. His remuneration, which amounts to 12.3 million euros, includes performance shares conditioned over a period of only 90 days. A practice that Proxinvest describes as short-term, with market standards suggesting evaluations over three years.
The Proxinvest report relaunches the debate on executive remuneration, in a context where inflation and social responsibility issues increasingly influence governance decisions. Large companies are thus faced with the need to reconcile the performance requirements of shareholders and the social acceptability of the remuneration granted to their managers.
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