Illumina’s chief executive Francis deSouza was awarded $26.7mn in total pay in 2022, almost double the amount in the previous year, ahead of a proxy fight with activist investor Carl Icahn.
The disclosure in a preliminary proxy filing on Thursday shows the world’s biggest genome sequencing company issued a special grant of stock options worth $12.5mn to deSouza as a retention incentive due to the “highly competitive talent environment”.
DeSouza was paid $14.3mn in 2021. The 86 per cent pay increase for Illumina’s chief executive comes amid a battle with Icahn, who wants to oust deSouza over his alleged mismanagement of the company.
Icahn has accused Illumina of making a disastrous decision to close its acquisition of cancer screening company Grail without regulatory approval.
The proxy battle follows a tumultuous 18 months for Illumina, whose market capitalisation has slumped from $75bn in August 2021 when it acquired Grail to just over $30bn last month.
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