9月22日，我接到TD Ameritrade的股份證明，立即向Applied Materials公司發出提案。

Shareholder Proposal to Improve Executive Compensation Program

關於改進高管薪酬規劃的股東提案

Resolved: shareholders recommend that Applied Materials, Inc. (the Company) improve the executive compensation program and policy to include the CEO pay ratio factor./決議：股東們提議應用材料公司（以下簡稱“本公司”）改進高管薪酬規劃和政策，將首席執行官薪酬比率因素納入其中。

Supporting Statement/支持提案的聲明

The Company’s board opposed to improve the executive compensation program and policy at our 2022 and 2023 shareholders meetings. The CEO pay ratios are more than 200 for the recent three years./公司董事會在 2022 年和 2023 年股東大會上反對改進高管薪酬規劃和政策。近三年CEO薪酬比例均在200以上。

America’s ballooning executive compensation is not sustainable for the economy, and there is no rational methodology or program to decide the executive compensation, particularly because there is no consideration of the CEO pay ratio factor, and there is no employee representation on board.  Shareholders in JPMorgan Chase & Co., Intel, Netflix and other big companies rejected sky-high executive pay packages in 2022 and 2023./美國不斷膨脹的高管薪酬對於經濟來說是不可持續的，而且沒有合理的方法論或程序來決定高管薪酬，特別是因為沒有考慮CEO薪酬比例因素，而且董事會中沒有員工代表。摩根大通、英特爾、Netflix等大公司的股東拒絕了2022年和2023年的天價高管薪酬方案。

The increase of disparity of income has a direct negative impact on American social instability. For example, an article from Politico.com 09/16/2023 "‘No defensible argument’: Anger boils over at CEO pay" stated: “The historic UAW strike puts an exclamation point on more than a decade of efforts ... to narrow the pay gap between top executives and workers.  GM CEO Mary Barra’s $29 million pay package is 362 times what her company’s median employee makes. For Ford CEO Jim Farley, the ratio is 281 times. It’s 365:1 for Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and his average employee.  Median CEO pay at the largest U.S. public companies hit $22.3 million last year, ... And between 1978 and 2021, executive compensation at large American companies increased by more than 1,400 percent.”/收入差距的擴大對美國社會不穩定產生直接負面影響。例如，Politico.com 2023 年9月16日發表的一篇文章《‘無可辯駁的論點’：對 CEO 薪酬的憤怒沸騰》指出：“歷史性的 UAW 罷工給十多年來…縮小高管人員與員工之間的薪酬差距的努力打上了感嘆號。通用汽車首席執行官的2900萬美元薪酬是該公司員工中位數收入的362倍。對於福特首席執行官來說，這個比例是281倍。Stellantis首席執行官和他的普通員工的比例為365:1。 去年，美國最大上市公司的首席執行官薪酬中位數達到2230 萬美元……從1978年到2021年，美國大型公司的高管薪酬增長了1400%以上。

As a policy recommendation to the Board, the company may refer to Aristotle’s Πολιτικά[Politiká]/Politics, in which he concluded that in a stable polis, the disparity of land ownership should not be more than 5 times. Human nature has not changed so dramatically.  The CEO pay ratios of big Japanese and European companies are much less than of big American companies.  The Company has the flexibility to reform the Human Resource and Compensation Committee to improve the executive compensation program and policy, such as to include the CEO pay ratio factor./作為向董事會提出的政策建議，公司可以參考亞里士多德的《政治學》，其中他的結論是，在一個穩定的城邦中，土地所有權的差距不應超過5倍。人性並沒有發生如此巨大的變化。日本和歐洲大公司的首席執行官薪酬比率遠低於美國大公司。公司可以靈活地改革人力資源和薪酬委員會，以改善高管薪酬規劃和政策，例如納入首席執行官薪酬比率因素。

11月2日，我意外地收到（老對手）Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati律師行代表Applied Materials向SEC和我發出的排除我的提案的電郵，理由是我的2024年提案與2023、2021年的提案重複，但我的2023年提案沒有獲得15%以上贊同。我11月3日回信反駁，指出我的2024年提案複製2023年，但與2021年提案類似而不雷同，而我的2023年提案得到62,097,687（9.7%）股份贊同，高於5%。我聲明自己不是SEC條規程序的律師，聽從SEC的判決，但Applied Materials這麼多年來一直拒絕與我直接就這個重要的企業治理問題會談，我只能不斷提交提案。付諸表決不是目的，改善企業治理才是目的。[1]

12月22日，我接到Applied Materials發來的電郵，是董事會為股東會議準備的反對我的提案的聲明，因為它表示公司的正式政策，值得發表並附加簡譯。

【Board of Directors Statement in Opposition/董事會反對聲明

The Board of Directors recommends that you vote AGAINST Proposal [#] for the following reasons: /董事會建議你投票反對提案 [#]，原因如下：

The Company has a deep commitment to operating its business in a sustainable and responsible manner, and the Board continuously takes steps to ensure that the executive compensation program reflects this commitment. Following careful review and consideration, the Board has again determined that support for this shareholder proposal is unwarranted because the Board’s Human Resources and Compensation Committee (the “HRCC”) already reviews the CEO pay ratios of the Company and its peers. Moreover, the HRCC regularly reviews and updates the executive compensation program to align the program with the Company’s business objectives, shareholder feedback and market trends. /公司深入致力於以可持續和負責任的方式經營業務，董事會不斷採取措施確保高管薪酬計劃體現這一承諾。經過仔細審查和考慮，董事會再次確定對這一股東提案的支持是沒有根據的，因為董事會的人力資源和薪酬委員會（“HRCC”）已經審查了公司及其同行的首席執行官薪酬比率。此外，HRCC定期審查和更新高管薪酬規劃，以使該規劃與公司的業務目標、股東反饋和市場趨勢保持一致。

The principal objectives of the Company’s executive compensation program continue to be: /公司高管薪酬規劃的主要目標仍然是：

●  to attract, reward, and retain highly-talented executive officers and other key employees; /吸引、獎勵和保留高天賦的管理官員和其他關鍵員工；

●  to motivate these individuals to achieve short-term and long-term goals that enhance shareholder value; and/激勵這些個人實現提高股東價值的短期和長期目標；和

●  to support our core values and culture./支持我們的核心價值觀和文化。

As a reference point for evaluating our compensation program, the HRCC regularly reviews compensation practices within our peer group. See “Compensation Discussion and Analysis—Compensation Governance and Decision-Making Framework—Compensation Program Peer Group.” On an annual basis, the HRCC also reviews the Company’s CEO pay ratio and changes in the ratio from year to year, as well as the ratios of peer companies and the S&P 500 Index average. Although SEC rules require disclosure of the ratio of annual CEO compensation to the annual compensation of a median employee, the HRCC does not believe that the pay ratio should more directly guide our compensation principles or that our executive compensation program should be changed as described in this proposal. /作為評估我們薪酬計劃的參考點，HRCC 定期審查我們同行的薪酬實行。參見“薪酬討論與分析——薪酬治理和決策框架——薪酬規劃的同行”。 HRCC 還每年審查公司 CEO 薪酬比率及其每年的變化，以及同行公司的比率和標準普爾500指數平均值。儘管SEC法規要求披露每年CEO薪酬與中位員工薪酬的比率，但HRCC並不認為薪酬比率應更直接地指導我們的薪酬原則，也不認為我們的高管薪酬規劃應按照本提案所述進行更改。

Similar versions of this proposal were submitted to a vote at the Company’s 2023, 2022, and 2021Annual Meetings of Shareholders; in each instance, shareholders holding more than 90% of votes cast voted against the proposal. In addition, our Board and management team actively seek the feedback of our shareholders, including with respect to our executive compensation program and matters related to our employees, and consider that feedback in their decision-making. Feedback obtained through our robust shareholder outreach program over the last few years has resulted in the implementation of changes to our executive compensation program, including a comprehensive redesign of our long-term incentive program in 2017 that, among other things, established new performance metrics and extended performance measurement periods from one year to three years. /該議案的類似版本已提交公司2023年、2022年、2021年度股東大會表決；每一次，持有90%以上投票權的股東們都對該提案投了反對票。此外，我們的董事會和管理團隊積極尋求股東的反饋，包括關於我們的高管薪酬規劃以及與員工相關的事項，並在決策中考慮這些反饋。過去幾年通過我們不懈的股東交流計劃獲得的反饋導致我們對高管薪酬計划進行了改革，包括在 2017 年全面重新設計我們的長期激勵計劃，其中包括建立新的績效指標和將績效評估期限從一年延長至三年。

As described in more detail under “Compensation Discussion and Analysis,” a significant portion of the Company’s executive compensation is performance-based and dependent upon the success of the Company in creating long-term value for its shareholders. Annual bonuses are determined by the HRCC based on achievement of a set of objective corporate scorecard measures across five categories—Financial and Market Performance and Execution, Products and Growth, Services and Subscription, Customers and Markets, and People and Organization—as well as individual executive performance. /正如“薪酬討論與分析”中更詳細地描述的那樣，公司高管薪酬的很大一部分是基於績效的，並且取決於公司在為股東創造長期價值方面的成功。年度獎金由HRCC根據一系列客觀企業記分卡衡量標準的實現情況確定，該衡量標準涵蓋五個類別——財務與市場表現和執行、產品和增長、服務和訂購、客戶和市場、人員和組織——以及個人執行績效。

Following careful review and consideration and for the reasons stated above, the Board has determined that adoption of this shareholder proposal is unnecessary and believes that our current compensation program and policy are appropriate and reflect stakeholder input. /經過仔細審查和考慮，並出於上述原因，董事會確定沒有必要採用該股東提案，並認為我們當前的薪酬計劃和政策是適當的，並反映了股東意見。

THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT YOU VOTE AGAINST THIS PROPOSAL /董事會建議你投票反對此提案。】

我已經在十多個大公司股東會議上重複說明董事會的反對理由的非理性方法論，不再一一重複。

2024年1月4日，這個提案的進展只能靜候SEC的Division of Corporation Finance/企業財務部的Rule 14a-8 Review Team/14a-8法規審核小組發出電郵，站在Applied Materials一邊，同意Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati律師行的排除我的提案的理由，並把所有關於這個提案的通訊都會被放在SEC網站，成為企業治理的一個案例。

我還沒有想好如何在高層報酬以外的企業治理領域繼續向Applied Materials提交2025年的提案，但昨天1月11日接到Bank of America/美國銀行Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary/總律師兼公司秘書長的電郵，要求討論我的2024年Shareholder Proposal to Improve Executive Compensation Program/改進高管薪酬計劃的股東提案，只得投入另一場戰線了。

[趙京，中日美比較政策研究所，2024年1月12日]

[1] 以上內容曾於2023年12月14日以“改進Applied Materials高管薪酬規劃的股東提案”題目在萬維博客發表。