In the aftermath of the tragic shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, health insurance companies are removing web pages that list their executives and boards of directors. 

A day after Thompson was fatally gunned down outside a New York City hotel on the way to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day, company pages on the websites of major health insurers that previously listed their senior leadership teams redirected elsewhere. UnitedHealthcare is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.

Executive and board of directors bios are common on most company websites, both public and private. Now it appears that major insurers including UnitedHealthcare, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, and its parent company, Elevance Health, all took down those pages, likely as precautionary measures. 

Elevance Health, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, and UnitedHealthcare did not respond to a request for comment. 

Archived versions of the web pages show that they were active on Wednesday. However, as of the publication of this article, those same URLs redirected internet users to other pages on the company’s site. 

For example, United Healthcare’s “About Us” page previously had a subheading that linked to headshots and brief bios of the company’s various executives, including Thompson. Now, that same web address redirects to the company’s homepage, uhc.com. 

Elevance Health, the Indianapolis-based health care conglomerate, also took down a site that featured its company executives. Instead that page now redirects to Elevance’s homepage. 

The website of Elevance-owned Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield performed similarly. The page that showed its executives now links only to the general landing page for the “About Us” section of the website. The insurer made headlines earlier this week over its intention to implement a new policy in New York, Missouri, and Connecticut that would limit reimbursements for anesthesia costs. However, the company pulled back on that proposal later in the week amid widespread criticism. 

The corporate world found itself grappling with the question of executive safety in the wake of Thompson’s murder. The nature of the shooting, which happened on a street corner in Midtown Manhattan, underscored the level of danger certain executives might face—even if they do not expect it. 

Across the business landscape, major corporations raised the levels of security afforded their executives. In the meantime, private security firms reported a marked increase in business inquiries since the shooting. 

Disclosure: UnitedHealth administers Fortune Media’s employer-sponsored health insurance plan. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Source link

As CEOs continue to digest the fallout of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Johnson, a billionaire backer of major companies believes a pay rise is needed to attract them to the job.

Lord Michael Spencer, the billionaire British financier, is frustrated by his belief that CEOs in the U.K. deserve to be paid in the same ballpark as the Premier League’s biggest stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland.

“We don’t mind paying our footballers, top-rate footballers, extraordinary amounts of money,” Spencer told the FT. 

“Somehow that’s considered perfectly acceptable. But if the CEO of BP or HSBC earns £20 million a year, materially less than their peer group in America, everyone jumps up and down saying this is an outrage.”

He added: “The U.S. celebrates the fact that great chief executives earn large amounts of money. They want their chief executives to be paid like football stars.”

Spencer’s argument is similar to one made by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary in April, who used footballer pay to justify his potential €100 million bonus.

The problem with Spencer’s comments? CEOs effectively are already paid like footballers in the U.K.

Multi-millionaire CEOs are already the norm

The average FTSE 100 CEO earned £4.2 million in 2023, while FT analysis shows the average Premier League salary was £1.98 million in the same year.

Spencer was more likely suggesting that CEOs should be paid at levels similar to those of the highest paid in the Premier League. But even here, the figures are comparable.

Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne is thought to be the highest-paid player, earning a salary of about £400,000 per week, or £20.8 million a year. With playing-related bonuses and sponsorship deals, his income is likely millions higher.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot earned £16.85 million in 2023, making him the FTSE 100’s highest-paid boss. In second place was RELX’s Erik Engstrom with a £13.64 million package, while Rolls Royce’s Terfan Erginbilic earned £13.61 million. 

U.K. bosses have faced steep resistance from investors to pay rises in recent years. AstraZeneca’s Soriot saw 38.5% of shareholders reject plans for a £1.8 million pay increase in April.

Rajiv Jain, chief investment officer at top 20 shareholder GQG Partners, said Soriot was “massively underpaid” when compared with U.S. pharmaceutical CEOs.

Shareholders have been cautious to approve bumper pay rises in an era of historically high inflation that has hit those less well off the hardest. 

On the other hand, proponents of pay rises say they are required to prevent a flight of companies and talent from the U.K. Several U.K. companies have chosen to move their listings to the U.S. this year in search of better market valuations.

C-Suite in the spotlight

Spencer’s comments come at a time of deep unrest in the C-Suite. 

The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week has brought into the spotlight executive safety at major companies.

UnitedHealthcare and other insurance companies, Elevance Health and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, removed board leadership bios in an apparent effort to protect their privacy amid heightened safety concerns.

Fortune’s Leadership editor Ruth Umoh and reporter Natalie McCormick wrote of a growing trend of trepidation among execs to make the move to the corner office, one that could be accelerated by Johnson’s death.

Those hoping to reverse that trend argue that higher pay may be the way to go.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Source link