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In the meme stock era, already generous executive share awards can vest for unpredictable reasons.
Peter Rawlinson, chief executive officer of Lucid Motors Inc., inspects a prototype electric vehicle.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergIt’s hard to design an executive pay plan that satisfies everyone but there’s now a big wrinkle that corporate boards need to think carefully about: What if retail investors suddenly decide the company is the bee’s knees and the stock goes through the roof?
Shares of luxury electric-vehicle maker Lucid Group Inc. have been on a tear lately, thanks partly to its popularity with day traders and on Reddit. After completing a blank-check merger in July, Lucid’s market capitalization has swelled to $91 billion. If these average share-price levels are sustained for six months, the targets underpinning British Chief Executive Officer Peter Rawlinson’s performance-based share plan will be reached, according to this filing. Those share awards, which were supposed to cover a five-year period, are currently valued at around $880 million.1