Vodafone in 'fat cat' volte face

Vodafone is hoping to stave off a shareholder revolt by rethinking its 'fat cat' payments to senior executives.

Key shareholders and investors, including the National Association of Pension Funds which represents about a quarter of Vodafone's shareholders, have been pressing Vodafone to change the way it pays its top executives.

According to shareholder insiders it is not so much the amount of money the executives are getting, it is just too easy for them to make lots of cash on share options without making significant changes to the company.

The shareholders have threatened to revolt against the plan at the next annual general meeting unless something is done.

It seems that Vodafone has taken the threat seriously and is expected to make changes to its remuneration structure in June. The changes, which will be detailed in the company annual report, will set much harder targets for the executives before they receive their share options.