Ethos Urges Novartis Shareholders to Reject Excessive Executive Pay
Ethos urged Novartis investors to reject CEO Vasant Narasimhan's 24.9 million franc pay package. The firm labeled the 30 percent hike as excessive versus peers.
Insights:
Proxy advisory firm Ethos has urged shareholders of Novartis AG to reject several pay-related agenda items at the company's upcoming annual general meeting, citing the 2025 remuneration of CEO Vasant Narasimhan as excessive. The recommendation, announced today, February 24, 2026, comes ahead of the scheduled March 6 AGM and focuses on the scale and structure of executive compensation.
According to the advisory firm, Narasimhan’s total remuneration for 2025 amounted to 24.9 million CHF, which represents an increase of approximately 30% compared to the previous year. Ethos pointed out that the variable pay component of the package reached 22.3 million CHF, a sum equivalent to 11.8 times the CEO's base salary. This substantial increase and the ratio of variable to fixed pay are central to the firm's call for shareholders to vote against the board's compensation proposals.
