Vornado Realty

May 20, 2021     

Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth had a total reported compensation of $11,047,233 in 2020. In short, the company has had a challenging year. The company proxy statement notes that there have been “substantial, negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our non-real estate businesses including Building Maintenance Services (“BMS”), our signage and parking business, tradeshows, Hotel Pennsylvania and lease terminations resulting primarily from retail tenant bankruptcies.” This statement is provided as rationale for the board’s decision to grant “a one-time waiver of the formulaic threshold components of our Annual Incentive Plan for 2020.”

Shareholders have repeatedly spoken against such waivers with their votes this year, though some may find Vornado’s pay decisions (including executives accepting certain reductions in compensation) as part of the company’s broader “overhead reduction program.”) partially mitigates that action.

At last year’s annual meeting, 57% of shareholders voted against the pay package at Vornado. The company granted one-time equity awards to an external hire and two internally-promoted executives. The largest equity award was valued at $25.5 million, time-vesting, and partially-vested upon grant.