“We are surprised that Warren Buffett had the opportunity to take a stand against excessive management compensation and failed to seize it,” Wintergreen said in a statement.
Coca-Cola has said that stock repurchases, including $4.8 billion of buybacks in 2013, cushion the dilution tied to employee awards. Dilution related to equity plans has been less than 1 percent annually over the past three years, “and is expected to be in this range going forward,” the company said in a presentation.
Coca-Cola also said that the link of the pay to performance means that all the potential awards may not be earned.
“The equity plan is fair, competitive and consistent with share owners’ interests and our pay for performance philosophy,” according to a statement from Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola shares have declined 1.4 percent this year, trailing the 1.5 percent gain of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.