Proactive Investors - Aurora Cannabis’ CEO Miguel Martin's annual salary rose about 38% to $6.7 million in the 2023 fiscal year even as the cannabis company’s shares tanked and it deployed cost-cutting measures.
Martin earned a base salary of about $590,500, plus $3.8 million in share-based options and about $1.1 million in option-based awards, according to media reports citing financial filings from the company.
He also earned about $815,000 in non-equity incentive plan compensation and $416,000 in other compensation, bringing his total compensation to $6.7 million, compared to earnings of about $4.8 million in fiscal 2022 and $4.4 million in fiscal 2021.
During the same period, fiscal 2023 which ended March 31, 2023, Aurora’s share price fell by 52%.
Its US-listed stock is down 44.3% in the year to date, while its Toronto-listed shares have fallen 46.4%.
The company, like the broader cannabis sector, has struggled with a lack of demand, in part due to a strong illicit cannabis market, regulatory challenges, and rising costs.
In an email to BNN Bloomberg, Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB)’ VP of communications and public relations Michelle Lefler said the company uses a "pay-for-performance approach" meaning that most of Martin's compensation was linked to Aurora's share price and corporate performance metrics, which were either met or exceeded.
"It is important to make clear that long-term incentives granted to executive leadership are entirely linked to the company’s share performance," Lefler told the publication in the email. "Today, the value of these rewards is much lower than the value at which they were originally granted."