Majority of Wipro’s public shareholders reject $4.33Mn severance for Delaporte

More than three-fourths of Wipro’s public shareholders voted against the $4.33 million (Rs 36.15 crore) cash severance package for former Chief Executive Thierry Delaporte, as indicated by a regulatory filing from the company.

According to voting records published on the BSE website, 78.4% of Wipro’s public shareholders, accounting for 10.31% of its total shareholders, opposed the cash compensation awarded to Delaporte.

Among the dissenting shareholders were at least seven large foreign institutional investors, including a UK fund and a Canadian investor.

Despite the opposition, the resolution passed with 89.69% of the overall vote due to Wipro’s 73% promoter holding, allowing the cash compensation to be awarded to Delaporte, who resigned in April this year.

Delaporte stepped down a year before the end of his five-year term at the helm of India’s fourth-largest IT services firm.

Following his resignation, Wipro announced it had agreed to pay Delaporte $4.33 million, potentially the highest cash payment made to an outgoing executive at the company.

In fiscal 2024, Delaporte earned over $20 million (about Rs 166 crore), making him the highest-paid CEO in India’s IT industry for the second consecutive year.

According to a recent Wipro filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Delaporte’s earnings included over $3.9 million in salary and allowances, over $5 million in commission/variable pay, almost $7 million classified as others, and $4.33 million as long-term compensation.

In a BSE filing, Wipro also announced the shareholders’ approval of Srinivas Pallia’s appointment as the company’s CEO and Managing Director.