The shareholders ofBlackBerry voted against the board's approach to paying executives after a period of poor returns.

A majority of the shares cast at the meeting were against the company's compensation plan. The percentages were not given byBlackBerry. The company received a similar vote last year.

After being caught up in last year's meme-stock craze,BlackBerry gave up those gains. In November of last year, John Chen became chief executive officer with a plan to focus on software rather than phones.

BlackBerry's early 2021 gains have long since vanished

Chen has received tens of millions of dollars in stock awards despite the company's struggles to grow. Chen received performance share units despite its tumble because of the temporary rise in the share price.

Glass Lewis recommended that investors vote against the plan. Advisory means that the shareholder ballot isn't binding on the board.

In February, Chen filed a plan with regulators to sell a third of his holdings for personal financial planning purposes.