(Reuters) – BlackRock (NYSE:) CEO Lawrence Fink’s total pay for 2023 was $26.9 million, up from $32.7 million a year earlier, the company reported on Thursday.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with $10 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2023 and serving clients in more than 100 countries, was founded by Fink in 1988.
Fink is under scrutiny because London-based activist investor Bluebell Capital Partners has proposed an amendment to the company’s charter to require the chairman to be an independent director.
BlackRock’s board of directors recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal.
Bluebell’s latest activism comes 15 months after it first targeted the New York-based asset manager. The investor wanted to replace CEO Fink and criticized the company for inconsistency in its approach to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues.
Over the years, Fink has drawn the ire of several politicians over BlackRock’s corporate governance practices. The company said it lost about $4 billion in assets under management last year as a result of the political backlash.
According to company documents filed with the SEC, Fink’s compensation package for 2023 included a base salary of $1.5 million, a bonus of $7.9 million, stock compensation of $16.4 million and other compensation of 1 .09 million dollars.
His reduced pay stands in stark contrast to the salaries of several Wall Street executives, including top executives at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, who will all receive raises in 2023.
However, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan took a pay cut after the bank’s annual profits fell 4%.
BlackRock’s earnings were 6% higher and assets under management were up 16% in 2023 from a year earlier.