NextDC's Craig Scroggie shrugs off pay strike as AirTrunk, Firmus circle talent
The chief executive of the country's largest listed data centre pure play was in a combative mood despite facing a massive shareholder revolt.
Most ASX chief executives would be apologetic if they received an overwhelming rebuke from shareholders over pay at their company's annual general meeting. Not NextDC's unorthodox CEO Craig Scroggie.
After 72% of votes were cast against the data centre operator's remuneration report on Thursday, Scroggie was unrepentant, telling attendees that without competitive pay packages for executives he will lose his best talent to a rapidly growing list of rivals, including AirTrunk, CDC and now Firmus.
In fact, he put this as number one in his top three risks facing the business.
“Growing the company by 10x over the course of the next few years will not be possible without talented people, and people who have deep expertise in this industry are global in nature,” Scroggie told the crowd inside NextDC’s S3 data centre in Sydney.
