ADM’s North American headquarters in Decatur, Ill. (Neeta Satam/Bloomberg News)
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. plans to slash CEO Juan Luciano’s annual cash bonus and laid out a new policy to claw back long-term awards in a bid to “ensure accountability” more than a year after an accounting scandal sent the commodity-trading giant’s shares tumbling.
Luciano is due to receive a 2024 bonus of about $1.2 million, less than half of his target of nearly $3 million, according to a securities filing. That brings his total compensation to roughly $21.6 million, down from $24.4 million in the previous year.
The move comes after ADM adjusted years of financial results due to errors in the way it reported transactions between business units. When the company announced the accounting problems in January 2024, the news erased more than $8.8 billion in market value.
Luciano
ADM’s board determined that it was appropriate to exercise “negative discretion” to shrink the payout percentage for cash incentive awards, the filing stated. The discretion was applied to the company executives “who were in relevant leadership positions during the applicable period.” That’s despite ADM’s conclusion that no executive was found to be engaged in improper conduct.
Vikram Luthar, the former chief financial officer, will not receive a cash bonus. He resigned in September, before the end of the fiscal year.
In addition, the company laid out a new policy for recouping or forfeiting equity incentive awards, saying it could claw back stock awards if an individual engages in any prohibited conduct, even if his or her employment is not terminated. “Our approach to recoupment of long-term incentive compensation reflects the company’s commitment to protecting stockholder value,” ADM said.
ADM ranks No. 77 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America and No. 11 on the agriculture sector list.
