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LETTER FROM CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AND COMPENSATION COMMITTEE CHAIR
May 16, 2019
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
Xerox experienced significant tumult in 2018, but through it all this Compensation Committee took steps to strengthen the long-term health of our business and generate value for our shareholders.
We recruited a new CEO and established appropriate compensation arrangements. Following the resignation of our former CEO and the termination of the previously proposed transaction with Fujifilm, there was considerable speculation in the market about whether Xerox would continue to be an independent company. Given that uncertainty, the Committee needed to make certain concessions to attract a CEO the Board believed was capable of stabilizing the business and engineering a turnaround. These concessions were intended to be aligned with the best interests of our shareholders, with the Company’s performance ultimately driving the vast majority of the value to be received. They included:
| • | | A significantone-timesign-on stock award; and |
| • | | A modified single-trigger change in control agreement (which will sunset on May 14, 2020) |
Mr. Visentin’s ongoing compensation package was set at the approximate median of our competitive peer group, which we selected through methodical analysis and discussion. As shown in our Proxy Statement (page 71) and recapped in the chart below, Mr. Visentin is expected to earn considerably less in 2019 than he did in 2018 since hisone-time,sign-on compensation was only for 2018.
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Year | | Vice Chairman and CEO | | Base Salary ($) | | Bonus and Non- Equity Incentive Awards ($) | | Stock and Option Awards ($) | | Other Compensation ($) | | Total ($) |
2018 | | G. Visentin | | 756,522 | | 3,300,000 | | 19,072,839 | | 329,642 | | 23,459,003 |
2019 | | G. Visentin | | 1,200,000 | | 1,800,000* | | 10,000,000* | | TBD | | 13,000,000 |
*At target
We developed, communicated and implemented a new strategy, which has already shown traction. We held an Investor Day in February 2019 to explain our new strategy in detail, and we received a resounding vote of confidence from our investors which is reflected in our stock price. Given the tremendous amount of development work that occurred in 2018 on that strategy, led from management by Mr. Visentin, the Compensation Committee exercised discretion to provide an increase to the 2018non-equity incentive award payouts of certain officers.
We followed a rigorous process to set compensation levels for our CEO and other NEOs. We worked with the Committee’s independent consulting firm to set compensation levels for our NEOs. We first developed a peer group list of companies that are similar to Xerox in term of industry, revenue and market capitalization. We compared against these companies to develop a range of market compensation, one of the key factors used to set compensation for our NEOs. Other factors included experience and performance over time. We believe that compensation packages for our NEOs are structured appropriately to the external market for their roles and that there is sufficient performance based pay to create a strong alignment with Xerox performance.