Executive pay: How South Florida CEOs stack up
Most of the chief executive officers at South Florida’s largest public companies got a raise last year. Even the minority whose total compensation fell from 2013 levels collected enough to make ends meet.
Total CEO compensation at the 27 largest public companies by market capitalization in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties averaged $8.6 million last year. On average, about half of that pay came from awards of stock and options to buy stock. Base salaries accounted for 10 percent of total pay and averaged just under $1 million — and with good reason: That’s the IRS cap for deducting salary payments as a company business expense.
The remaining 40 percent was CEO income from long-term incentive plans, pension and health plan contributions, and such extras as a car allowance. Some perks are more valuable, among them Vector Group’s $200,000 annual CEO allowance for using a corporate jet.
Are South Florida CEOs really worth all that? Most shareholders thought so, according to shareholder approval votes this year. Most CEOs delivered higher share prices and dividends last year without king-sized pay increases. Others got big raises despite relatively limited returns on shareholder investment.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article25040950.html
