The reasons for the scandalous compensation of Carlos Tavares, number one of Stellantis, are all in the eyes of the beholder, with a strange idea of economics in his head: a system of wealth production that is not free but subjected to the will of the people, acted upon through power executive. It’s not a statist dictatorship, but we’d really like it. Are you opening a factory abroad? The Government intervenes. Is a car produced elsewhere? The Minister makes himself heard. Does a manager earn a lot? A table is opened for Chigi.
Stellantis does not belong to us, but to its shareholders, probably including those of us who have invested our savings to see them bear fruit. Neither the company nor the shareholders are good or bad, but only good or bad at producing wealth. 90% of Tavares’ compensation is linked to goals: evidently he was good. However, if this may be good for Elkann and his associates, it does not necessarily mean it is good for the country.
Successful economies manage to make the interests of shareholders coincide with social ones: I put the factory here and not there. For this to happen, the State must not pay the company with various subsidies and incentives, but rather create the surrounding conditions that attract investments and production. If energy is expensive, open nuclear power plants; if justice doesn’t work, hire five or six Amazon top managers: the packages arrive, you’ll see that the sentences will arrive too. The same goes for the job market, for education, bureaucracy and taxes. Unfortunately, the social democracy that governs Europe does not see it this way. It asks the company to converge on social interests, but the State does not have to do the same, on the contrary, it can churn out constraints, regulations and bureaucracy in spades. For example, it is not normal that two clicks are needed to access a website, because one leaves to accept cookies.
All right, but Fiat has enjoyed public support in various forms for decades. Yes, however, apart from the fact that in exchange the State also obtained factories in the middle of nowhere, going backwards is stuff for historians, and it doesn’t help. Now the only money at stake are the incentives, which are not for Stellantis but to sell these blessed electric cars that no one wants, moreover made abroad. Public opinion and the Government, instead of throwing away this almost billion of taxpayers’ money, should get Brussels to cancel fines on emissions exceeding 95 g/km of CO2. Stellantis would put the government’s photo in every office.
Rather, there is a detail in Tavares’ emoluments. In addition to the compensation of 13.5 million, determined by the results, he received an additional bonus of ten million. For what? For transforming Stellantis into a sustainable technology mobility company. What does that mean? And why would it be so important as to almost double his salary? At the same time, the stock market is rewarding the stock. For commercial and industrial results, hopefully. But hasn’t that banal adjective thrown out there, sustainable, had any weight in the judgments of financial analysts? Of course, if the shareholders shell out ten million, it means that the profit was significant for them. From the sustainability of the company? Sustainable in an environmental sense, given that some eyebrows are still raised about employment. If this were the case, it would mean that, while politics fails to influence the employment choices of this company, finance succeeds very well on green issues.
In conclusion, public opinion should not be outraged by how private shareholders of private companies pay their managers.
Instead, take care of your employees, those civil servants who should make the country attractive for businesses and not reject them, as has happened since the economic boom.
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