The Opioid Crisis, CEO Pay, and Shareholder Activism

In 2020, AmerisourceBergen Corporation agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against the company for its opioid distribution practices, which critics alleged had contributed to the opioid crisis. AmerisourceBergen’s legal and financial troubles were accompanied by shareholder demands aimed at holding the company’s leadership accountable for their role in the addiction crisis. Should the board reduce the executives’ pay, or would that ignore the larger issue of a business’s responsibility to society?