<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NJDavid:
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How much bonus did he take last year - despite the losses?
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Well, the CO proxy came out today, and here's Bethune's 2002 compensation. Frankly, it's astonishing:
*Annual Compensation*
Salary: $1,063,350
Bonus: $651,563
Other: $35,425
*Long Term Compensation*
(Awards)
Restricted Stock: $2,318,250
Securities Underlying Options: 800,000
(Payouts)
LTIP Payouts: $3,518,438
*Other Compensation*
Insurance Premiums: 41,835
Y'all who are interested should read the proxy. In 2002, the HR committee of the board rejiggered the LTIP formula to award execs full payments if CO achieved "the highest cumulative EBITDAR margin in the industry group" and other goals. Prior to this, it looks like CO would have had to show a profit for these payments to be made. Lucky fools.
BTW, Gordon's son, Xavier Bethune was compensated to the tune of $226,045 for his job as a Senior Director - Purchasing of CO.
We'll have to see what the other airlines are doing, but CO's generosity to Bethune for 2002 looks to be pretty incredible.
Also, I found this in the proxy, and it sounded new to me:
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We have announced and are implementing plans to modify our product for the large segment of our customers who are not willing to pay for a premium product, to reduce costs and to generate additional revenue. Other carriers have announced similar plans to create lower-cost products, or to offer separate low cost products (such as a low-cost "airline within an airline").</font>
Finally, and it's probably also something to watch, CO's pension plan is underfunded by about $1.2 billion. NW is underfunded by more than $3 billion. As airlines either force or "encourage" employees to leave the company, these deficits could become more of an issue.
[This message has been edited by JeremyZ (edited 03-27-2003).]