Cendant Halves CEO's Pay to $15M
08/28/2002 10:06:52 EST
NEW YORK (AP) - Cendant Corp., the travel and real estate conglomerate, said the compensation of its chairman and chief executive, Henry Silverman, would be more than halved after the company eliminated his right to an annual stock option grant and more closely linked his overall pay to the company's earnings.
By overhauling Silverman's employment package, Cendant estimated Wednesday that his compensation in 2002 would drop to about $15 million, down 58 percent from $36 million the previous year.
The amended agreement, under which Silverman will receive an incentive bonus based on pre-tax earnings, is good through 2012. It stipulates that Silverman will not receive restricted stock, which has limitations on when it can be sold.
The company said Silverman, who owns 8 million shares of Cendant and has options to buy 36.4 million more, voluntarily forfeited his annual stock option grant in 2002.
Silverman's existing options were granted between 1993 and 2001 at an average exercise price of about $13 per share, the company said.
In late morning trading Wednesday, Cendant's shares were down 18 cents at $14.61 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company also said Wednesday it would begin expensing stock option grants on Jan. 1 at a cost of between 3 cents and 4 cents per share in 2003.
Cendant said it will reduce the number of stock options granted to employees and instead give them restricted stock.
___ |
