I had a funny convo last week with the global practice head for board searches at a top exec search firm. They do ~400 public co board searches a year.
I told him how at GameStop, none of the board members or CEO are paid cash or equity.
He said, "So you grant options?"
I said, "No, the stock board members and the CEO get come from purchasing stock just like any other shareholder."
He said, "So you grant restricted stock units?"
I said, "No, we don't grant any equity and don't pay any cash. We believe this aligns our interest with shareholders."
He said, "What?!"
Out of the thousands of public co board searches his firm had done, they had never done one with no cash or equity comp - it blew his mind.
To my knowledge, only Berkshire Hathaway and GameStop have no comp for the board. If there are others, let me know.
This comp structure should be more common as it really does foster alignment with shareholders.
$GME