The new CEO of Sanofi pharmaceuticals, Olivier Brandicourt, will receive €4,000,000 upon taking office. "It's incomprehensible, people don't understand how a person who hasn't done anything yet can have unprecedented remuneration."
February 24, 2015 – land economy
“Scandal”, “ethics attack” were some of the adjectives used by the French government and trade unions on Monday when they received the news that the new president of pharmaceutical company Sanofi will receive €4,000,000 when he takes office.
Olivier Brandicourt, whose appointment as head of pharmaceuticals was communicated on Thursday, will have a welcome bonus, a common practice in the United States, where it is referred to as a "golden handshake".
The new patron will receive a €2,000,000 bonus when he takes up his duties in early April and again in January 2016, if still in office.
"It's incomprehensible," said French socialist government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll, people don't understand how a person who "hasn't done anything yet can have unprecedented remuneration."
“We need to reaffirm the rules, argue some moralists”.
“An executive is not alone in the world, he is part of a context and must take this context into account.” This context is "a difficult period for many French people", recalled Finance Minister Michel Sapin instead.
For her part, the Minister of Ecology, Ségolène Royal, hopes that Brandicourt will give up these millions for "decency, especially pharmaceutical companies that live on social security and therefore on workers' contributions".
The announcement of the award posted on the group's website it also stirred up the unions. “Shocking,” said Stéphane Galiné, of CFDT, Sanofi's largest union, while for Thierry Bodin, CGT is “scandalous”.
Sanofi's management “had to up the ante” because there weren't many candidates. “Sanofi had been looking for the rare pearl for a long time,” Galiné said.
Sanofi, which disputes the title of largest company by market capitalization on the Paris stock exchange with the oil company Total, has revenues of 34,000 million euros a year, and has gone six months without a general manager following the sacking at the end of last October Chris Viehbacher.
Brandicourt, a medically trained doctor who now heads Bayer's pharmaceutical business, was finally appointed Thursday.
Sanofi shares rose 1.90% to 89.05 cents on the Paris Stock Exchange, which rose 0.65%.
The bonus that Brandicourt will receive is "compliant" with the practices of the pharmaceutical industry, the practices of the main companies listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and the code of employers' organizations of French companies, a Sanofi spokesman justified himself.
Related news: Olivier Brandicourt, future CEO of Sanofi
Royal fustige the "golden hello" of the new patron of Sanofi
Bonus of DG de Sanofi : Parisot dit «bravo»
INDUSTRY: SANOFI PASTEUR MSD TOWARDS CUTTING OF 111 EMPLOYEES (Sep. 29, 2008)
Five hundred layoffs at Sanofi-Aventis (10-15% workforce reductions in the scientific information area)
Sanofi Pasteur: layoffs smooth as oil (March 8, 2013)
A banner reading "Sanofi kills jobs" during a demonstration against unemployment in the French sector on October 9, 2012.
