In Germany, 88.9% of pay votes were contested this year, up from 47.6%. Almost everywhere else, the trend ran the other way. Shareholder revolts over executive pay eased in Europe, the United States and Japan in 2026, Reuters reported on Sept. 1, citing data from the advisory firm Georgeson Advisory.
The calm sits awkwardly beside the pay itself. Average CEO pay at S&P 500 companies hit a record high, Reuters noted, even leaving out a bumper plan for Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX.
Europe: fewer fights over last year’s pay
European investors sign off on payouts for the prior year. Contested pay reports there fell almost 6 percentage points to 25.2%, the lowest average since at least 2018. Georgeson counts a vote as contested when at least 10% of shareholders oppose it. It said proxy advisors issued fewer “oppose” recommendations, and companies talked to their investors more before annual meetings to head off trouble.
Votes on future pay policies moved less, slipping to 36.6% from 37.9%. The Netherlands led the drop, with opposition down to 10.5% from 25%. Belgium and Germany were the exceptions.
Two companies met real resistance. British medical technology firm Smith & Nephew and German potash producer K+S both saw more than 40% of votes cast against their pay policies.
Sarah Wilson of Minerva Analytics said investors in the UK and Europe stayed “noticeably more sceptical” of proposed remuneration policies than of outcomes. Her reading: the worry is about how future pay is designed, not just how it was paid.
United States and Japan
Rebellions are rare in the world’s biggest equity market. Average support for “Say on Pay” votes in the S&P 500 rose to 90.4% from 89.7%. The share of failed votes, those with less than 50% support, also edged up, to 1.4% from 1.2%. Rajeev Kumar, a senior managing director at Georgeson, attributed the higher support to stronger corporate performance and a favorable market.
In Japan, 11 of the 126 director compensation resolutions from Nikkei 225 companies in the 2026 AGM season were contested. That is 8.7%, against 16 instances, or 12.4%, in 2025, though the total number of resolutions varies by year.
Reuters tied the shift to wider changes: the Trump administration’s push to rein in proxy advisory firms and curb shareholder activism, and efforts by some asset managers to hand more voting decisions back to end-investors. Cas Sydorowitz, head of Georgeson Advisory, described a “more fragmented environment in which voting outcomes can be less predictable, even when overall dissent levels remain relatively low.”
