IBM chief's gets small pay hike

[OhioChick]

10 Mar, 2009, 1041 hrs IST,AP

SAN FRANCISCO: IBM Corp's chairman and chief executive, Sam Palmisano, received a compensation package valued at nearly $21 million in 2008, only slightly higher than the year before, according to calculations by The Associated Press.

In describing the pay package in a regulatory filing Monday, IBM's board praised the Armonk, N.Y.-based technology company's "very strong" performance despite the rocky economy. IBM's profit jumped 18 percent to $12.3 billion in 2008, helped by better margins in software and services. Those are two areas where IBM's corporate customers continue to invest as a way to save money, by outsourcing or automating some of their tech chores, like managing payroll.

IBM isn't immune to the downturn, though: Hardware sales took a hit as corporations put off buying new servers and mainframes. IBM shares, which fell 2.7 percent Monday to $83.48, have traded between $69.50 and $130.93 over the past year.

Palmisano, 57, got $1.8 million in base salary, the same as in 2007. He got a performance-based cash bonus of $5.5 million, which was $500,000 above his target for the year.

His perks totaled $1.4 million. That included $493,881 for expenses incurred on personal travel on the company's private plane, dividend equivalents of $453,397 on restricted stock, and $412,000 in company contributions to defined contribution plans.

Palmisano also got an award of performance-based stock that was valued at $12.2 million when it was granted in May. The number of shares he actually gets will depend on IBM's performance, and they won't be handed out until Feb. 1, 2011, the company said in its filing.

Palmisano's total pay package was valued at $20.97 million in 2008, according to the AP's calculations. In 2007, his compensation was $20.91 million, and in 2006 it was $18.77 million, also according to the AP's calculations. The AP formula is designed to isolate the value a company's board placed on an executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

More: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/IBM_chiefs_gets_small_pay_hike_/articleshow/4248624.cms

Makes me sick... :puke:

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Sam doesn't deserve a penny more than $250,000. That's more than IBM's CEO made when I started with

them in 1973.

[antigop]

2. unbelievable....

http://biz.yahoo.com/t/40/4114.html

And he also has 17,000 shares of Exxon?