The Spanish Ramón Laguarta earned 28.4 million dollars in 2022 as head of PepsiCo

The highest paid Spanish managers work in the United States. The remuneration of Ramón Laguarta, president and CEO of the multinational PepsiCo, amounted to 28.4 million dollars in 2022 (about 26.4 million euros at the current exchange rate), according to the documentation that the company has made available to shareholders for the next meeting on May 3.

Laguarta thus exceeds the salaries of the other two Spaniards who preside over large multinationals listed on Wall Street: the head of HP, Enrique Lores (21 million dollars), and that of Johnson & Johnson, Joaquín Duato (13.1 or 19.9 million dollars, depending on the criteria used). In the absence of the publication of the salary of any other senior manager, Laguarta is positioned as the best-paid Spanish executive for his functions in 2022 that is known. The only exception is Pablo Isla, who earned 27.2 million euros, but most of it as a settlement due to his cessation as president of Inditex.

The PepsiCo president’s salary has grown 11% from $25.5 million a year earlier. It is broken down as follows. Laguarta received 1.6 million as salary. He received an incentive of 9.4 million dollars in shares and the company points out that if the objectives set are exceeded, it can reach 18.8 million, which would bring the total to 37.8 million. In addition, the president of PepsiCo received an annual bonus of 6.3 million and another multi-year bonus of 6.2 million. To this is added 4.5 million increase in value of his pension plan. The total amount is rounded out with $602,000 in other compensation, including $469,000 for personal use of the company’s aircraft.

Starting this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) obliges companies to calculate and publish in their compensation reports a figure that it calls “compensation actually paid” and which, paradoxically, does not correspond to the compensation actually paid. paid. This figure, which takes into account increases in the value of incentives delivered in previous years, stood in the case of Laguarta at 39.46 million dollars.

Laguarta, 59, has led PepsiCo since 2018 and has chaired its board since 2019. He joined the Spanish subsidiary in 1996 from Chupa Chups and has previously held different positions of responsibility within the group, especially in Europe.

In the meeting call, he outlines the company’s achievements in 2022, the year in which it obtained revenues of 86,000 million dollars, with growth of 8.7% and 14.4% in reported and organic revenues, respectively, and a 17% and 11% increase in reported and constant currency earnings per share, respectively. The company will pay its shareholders about $7.7 billion in 2023: $6.7 billion in dividends and $1 billion in share buybacks.

To set his remuneration, the board has assessed that, in 2022, “Laguarta provided strong strategic leadership in a demanding environment to lead PepsiCo to exceed most of its financial objectives, while continuing to focus on long-term value creation.” for its shareholders and navigating a dynamic operating environment. The company highlights the objectives achieved during the year.

The salary of the head of the company is equivalent to 543 times the salary of the median PepsiCo employee, who receives a salary ($52,315) that is over half of the employees and below which the other half is, according to the company. . Laguarta, on the other hand, has company shares valued at about $33.5 million.

At the shareholders’ meeting, a proposal to separate the positions of president and chief executive officer into two different people is put to the vote, but the board recommends voting against that resolution.

Laguarta’s remuneration is at least double that of the highest-paid presidents and CEOs of the largest Spanish companies by market capitalization: Inditex, Iberdrola, Banco Santander and BBVA. Ignacio Sánchez Galán, president of Iberdrola and the highest paid in that group, earned 13 million euros last year. The president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, earned 11.7 million euros in 2022. Óscar García Maceiras earned 8.4 million as CEO of Inditex. The president of BBVA, Carlos Torres, won 8.3 million. With a capitalization of 245,000 million dollars, PepsiCo is worth almost as much on the stock market as those four large Spanish firms combined.

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