Of the 190 US companies carrying stock-price vesting hurdles in their latest proxy, 59 have had the CEO seat change hands since September 2024. Verified filing by filing: every Item 5.02 Form 8-K those companies filed in the window — 896 of them — read for appointment language. The split that matters is whether the price ladder belongs to the person now sitting in the chair.
The board built the ladder at hire or promotion. This is a live incentive, held by the person who has to clear it — the cleanest read in the scan.
The gap here is measuring a dead incentive. The named holder has departed, moved to a chairman seat, or never ran the company at all; the price hurdle no longer motivates anyone in the chair.