CEO pay at US cos shrink 6.8% in 2008 - 8 Apr 2009

Last year, the average cash bonus payouts for chief executives
tumbled by 20.6 per cent, the study by executive compensation research
firm Equilar said.

"...Median CEO pay fell by 6.8 per cent from 2007 to 2008. Declines
in overall compensation levels were principally driven by a steep drop
in median cash bonus payouts, which fell by 20.6 per cent over the same
period," Equilar said in a statement.

The study includes data for 208 S&P 500 CEOs at companies whose
financial years ended between June 2008 and January 2009 and whose
chief executives held office for at least two fiscals.

S&P 500 CEOs received an average total pay package of $8,446,935 last year. In 2007, the median salary stood at $9,061,057.

"From 2007 to 2008, median total compensation for S&P 500 CEOs
decreased by 6.8 per cent, falling to $8,446,935. Aggregate
compensation, sum of all compensation for all CEOs, also fell, dropping
by 8.9 per cent," the statement said.

Last year, these CEOs were paid a cash bonus of $1,473,520, which is
a fall of 20.6 per cent as compared to the same period a year ago. The
median cash bonus paid was $1,855,989 in 2007.

"The prevalence of CEOs receiving a bonus also dropped from 92.3 per cent in 2007 to 85.6 per cent in 2008," Equilar noted.

According to the study, the aggregate bonus compensation -- the sum
of all bonuses for all CEOs -- plunged by 19.6 per cent, falling from
about $579 to $465.2 million.

Equilar pointed out that CEOs at S&P 500 companies in the
financial services sector, saw their average compensation decline by
38.3 per cent from 2007 to 2008.

The median pay fell from "$10,488,412 to a median of $6,473,194.
Median bonus payouts fell 100 per cent from $2,623,282 in 2007 to zero
in 2008".

The firm said that a median of zero reflects the fact that less than 50 per cent of CEOs received a bonus in 2008.

The total compensation is defined as the sum of base salary, cash
bonus payouts, the grant date value of stock awards, the grant date
value of option awards and other compensation like benefits and
perquisites.

While bonuses include both discretionary and performance-based
payouts. Stock and option awards include grants with both service-based
and performance-based vesting requirements

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