'm a small shareholder of KO but I had no trouble seeing why this was a bad plan and I voted against it. Warren Buffett abstained which is the same as saying YES. In fact its often worse then saying YES because you are simply trying to appease everyone when you vote this way. It's a lame thing to do and just another reason why Buffett doesn't deserve our admiration and respect, but rather our disdain. To suggest now that his private converstions with the CEO of KO and his son (a KO director) are grounds to feel differently is to miss the point: he said he often voted for compensation plans that he disagreed with while on company boards. Which is to say that he cares more about his well-being ($) then he does the public good or the the myriad of small investors that follow his every word like sheep.