Critics take shots at Johnson & Johnson CEO's $30 million payday

Johnson & Johnson paid CEO Alex Gorsky about $30 million last year. Now two influential investor-advisory firms want shareholders of the pharmaceutical giant to make the company claw back some of that pay package.

Institutional Shareholder Services last week joined rival advisory firm Glass Lewis in recommending that J&J investors vote to reject Gorsky's compensation deal at the company's annual shareholder gathering this month. ISS said J&J's corporate governance was poor, giving it a 7 rating on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the best. On compensation alone, ISS gave J&J a rating of 9, close to its lowest. At issue is the fact that J&J paid out billions of dollars in legal settlements last year, including $4 billion tied to its role in the nation's opioid epidemic.