It wasn't all that long ago that just the mention of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Tesco's small-format grocery store invented just for U.S. consumers, made U.S. food retailers weak-kneed and
nervous. But the tepid performance of the West Coast chain since its 2007 launch has been a continual disappointment, which last week erupted in very public rebuke to Tesco management: Shareholder
activists challenged the company's executive compensation plan, precisely because of the fat salary it will pay Tim Mason, CEO of Fresh & Easy.
While the board's recommendations did
ultimately pass with 53% of the vote, 38% of the votes were against the proposal, leading the Financial Times to call it one of the five biggest shareholder rebellions in more than a decade.
"The extraordinary opposition vote reflects investor outrage over the excessive pay awarded to Tim Mason, Tesco's second highest paid executive, despite the dismal performance of the US Fresh and Easy
business he oversees," Michael Garland, director of value strategies for the CtW Investment Group, a U.S. group representing union-sponsored pension funds, says in a statement.