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Outgoing founder and chairman praises management team and new board chair amid tough times in the gold industry in emotional farewell at annual meeting.
Gone, but definitely not forgotten. That was the tone of Barrick Gold Corp.’s annual meeting in Toronto Wednesday, which marked the emotional farewell of outgoing chairman and founder Peter Munk, and the release of dismal first quarter financial results amid the lacklustre gold price.
The auditorium was filled with the requisite Bay St. suits and shareholders while the annual group of environmental protesters outside hoisted a 15-foot Munk puppet and waved signs like “Gold is a toxic asset” to mark the 86-year-old’s departure.
But it was really Munk’s show, in which he made a farewell speech that drew laughs, hugs, kisses and a standing ovation for his 30 years at the helm of the firm that began as a penny stock with one mine in Northern Ontario to the world’s largest gold miner.
“As much as we’d like to believe we are eternal, the reality hits home,” he said. “The time has come to hand it over.”
His retirement comes after what chief executive Jamie Sokalsky called the toughest year in Barrick’s history, prompting a major overhaul that shrank the firm from 27 mines across the world to 19 as it shed almost $1 billion of money-losing assets while the gold market went south.
Shareholders demanded a shakeup on the Munk-controlled board of directors last year after a jaw-dropping $11.9-million signing bonus was awarded to incoming chairman John Thornton.
A new executive compensation program created a few weeks ago to more closely align executive pay with performance got 80 per cent shareholder approval from stockholders this year, noted Sokalsky.
Last year he earned nearly $2 million less than Thornton, whose $9.45-million pay package included a $1.25-million bonus in a year that the embattled company reported a $10.4-billion net loss while the share price lost half its value.
Munk said he is leaving Barrick in good hands, saying his management team and the new board chairman are “the best A-team the company has ever had.”
“I’m so very confident that Barrick’s future is going to be as glorious, exciting and probably more stimulating and rewarding to shareholders as the first 30 years have been, when I was fortunate enough to be chairman,” he said.
He also raised eyebrows saying he would remain “very involved” with the company.
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