Qualcomm’s executive pay practices came under the spotlight this spring.

Financial columnists from The San Diego Union-Tribune and New York Times weighed in on Qualcomm’s equity awards to executives and employees — saying these grants block the benefit to shareholders of billions in stock buybacks.

Activist investor Jana Partners called for changes in Qualcomm’s performance targets for executives. Instead of revenue and adjusted operating income, which can create “the incentive to grow at any cost,” Jana wants shareholder-friendly metrics, such as earnings per share or return on invested capital.

These targets “provide an important check on stock-based compensation,” the activist said in a letter to Qualcomm this spring.

The wireless chip maker’s executive compensation plan is complex. It became more elaborate last year as the company took steps to keep its management team together after Microsoft reportedly tried to hire Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf. The moves included providing millions in front-loaded restricted stock grants to Mollenkopf, Executive Chairman Paul Jacobs and other top officials.

One key issue for Qualcomm’s critics is shareholder dilution. Over the past five fiscal years, the company has spent $13.6 billion repurchasing 239 million of its own shares. These buybacks should have reduced the number of shares in the market, boosting shareholder value. But despite the buybacks, Qualcomm’s total share count at the end of fiscal 2014 was flat compared with five years before.

“The company has spent a lot of money on repurchases, yet the share count has not declined,” said Steven Re of Quality Growth Management, a Rancho Santa Fe investment firm that owns Qualcomm shares. “It’s like a cloud over the company that it has so richly rewarded a management that has done so poorly for shareholders.”

Qualcomm says its stock compensation program is designed to retain not only executives but also lower level employees. On average, Qualcomm’s top five officers received 6 percent of compensation shares awarded over the past five years. The remainder went to employees outside of the executive suite.

A glut of stock options from their heyday in the early 2000s was the main reason why buybacks failed to cut share count. Qualcomm no longer relies on options to pay executives. It has shifted to restricted stock, which is less dilutive.

This current fiscal year, the company increased buybacks. It pledged to repurchase $10 billion in shares by March 2016 — a move that is expected to shrink share count.

The bulk of Jacobs’ pay last year came from stock options. He exercised 1.8 million shares at strike prices ranging from roughly $37 to $45 per share. He immediately sold the shares for about $73 to $79 each, pocketing the difference.

About one-third of Jacobs’ options were 10 years old and set to expire. Others were granted several years ago. He last received stock options in 2009.

Last year wasn’t typical for Qualcomm. After reports that Microsoft had approached Mollenkopf, Jacobs stepped down as CEO. “A key element of retaining Mr. Mollenkopf was Dr. Jacobs agreeing to relinquish the CEO title and adopt a different role,” the company said in its proxy.