SAP Annual General Meeting 2018

Naturally, the "exorbitant" salary of SAP CEO Bill McDermott was mentioned. Last year, he earned the most as CEO of any company listed on the Dax.

Plattner was not Plattner on this Thursday in Mannheim: Instead of blustering and cynically contradicting, he remained calm - almost statesmanlike.

The only side blow he allowed himself was a "request" to the press to report truthfully and accurately for once on the compensation of SAP CEO Bill McDermott.

Herewith the E-3 Magazine gladly complies with Hasso Plattner's request:

Last year, McDermott received about 22 million euros from SAP into his account, but "only" about 13 million came from his Executive Board salary, the difference stemming from stock options dating back four years.

Hasso Plattner rightly noted that this impressive sum was the result of the remarkable increase in SAP's share price - and that not only McDermott but all shareholders benefited from the rise in the share price. Applause in the hall!

Another interesting and respectable argument from Plattner was SAP's global presence and responsibility. The company operates on an equal footing with the leading IT companies from the USA - Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Google, etc.

SAP therefore wants to, can and must pay its CEO a salary comparable to that paid to the heads of the U.S. companies mentioned above.

"Executive Board compensation must be competitive with regard to our international competitors"

emphasized Plattner.

Whether this is true or not, it remains to be seen whether the bosses of the German automotive and chemical industries will argue in a similar way in the future.

This means that Bill McDermott's compensation last year was "only" 13 million. And Hans-Martin Buhlmann of the Association of Institutional Private Investors had this to say at the lectern at SAP's Annual General Meeting:

"I can't understand how a single person can make tens of millions of dollars in 360 days."

He and Jella Benner-Heinacher, head of the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (DSW), agreed that he should be happy with the money. Hans-Martin Buhlmann, however, added that he should give something back to the public.

In doing so, he would be following in the good tradition of all SAP founders and some (ex-)board members. Gerd Oswald supports local clubs in Walldorf that look after socially disadvantaged young people.

In summary, it was a successful Annual General Meeting for the Supervisory Board and the Management Board. After last year's disaster, when only just over 50 percent of shareholders voted to approve the actions of the Supervisory Board, this year's vote was again the usual more than 90 percent.