Episode Details

Live from a pile of dark chocolate-dipped kittens, it’s an all-new Terrific Tuesday edition of Business Pants. Joined by Analyst-Hole Matt Moscardi! On today's calorie free Double Big Mac called February 4th 2025: the Who Do You Blame? Game!

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

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Who Do You Blame? Game

Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf Gets Pay Bump To $31.2 Million

CEO Charlie Scharf: for being greedy. His pay ratio was already an alarming 325:1 last year.

Shareholders: Say on Pay 57% approval in 2021; 73% approval in 2022. Despite policy tweaks which resulted in 92% support in 2023 and 93% in 2024: the song remains the same: the CEO’s pay steadily and magically increases annually: $21M, $25M, $26M, and now $31M

Pay Committee chair Ronald Sargent: why on earth would you ask the former CEO of Staples to control setting the pay of a fellow S&P 500 CEO brother? It’s an immediate conflict of interest.

Female board power: at -19% this is a board that chooses to underpower female leadership. 5 women control an aggregate 20% influence while the top 5 men control 68%

Citi bucks back-to-office trend and embraces hybrid working

The board: 8 of 14 directors are women

The CEO: In 2021, Jane Fraser became Citi’s CEO and the first woman to lead a major U.S. bank 

Shareholders: 26% in 2024 supported a SHP requesting a report on the effectiveness of Citi’s policies and practices in respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Citi’s existing and proposed financing

Chief Human Resources Officer Sara Wechter: Sara serves on the board of Onex Corporation (relatively rare for CHROs and is not afraid in her Citigroup bio to state that “she has championed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across Citi, leading the firm in exceeding its original 3-year aspirational representation goals set in 2018 for women globally and black talent in the U.S.”

McDonald’s Shamrock Shake returns — and so does Grimace’s uncle

The CEO: Chris Kempczinski’s CEO pay ratio of 1,212:1 proves he doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

The Chair: oh wait, that’s also Chris Kempczinski

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