PUTNAM IS NYSE BIGGEST EARNER
By RODDY BOYD
March 15, 2006 -- Jerry Putnam may be the new kid at the Big Board, but last year he was its highest paid executive by a mile.
Booking almost $17.67 million last year while at the helm of the NYSE's new partner, electronic-trading platform Archipelago, according to the NYSE's initial public offering prospectus, Putnam came in far ahead of his new colleagues, co-President Catherine Kinney and Chief Executive John Thain.
Last year, Kinney earned $2.25 million while Thain took in $4.12 million.
Putnam's lavish rewards have raised eyebrows on Wall Street, especially as New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer continues his dogged pursuit of Dick Grasso, the exchange's former chief executive.
Spitzer wants Grasso to hand back a chunk of the $140 million he was awarded when running the Big Board, which at the time was a nonprofit organization.
An NYSE spokesman did not return a call on whether Putnam's hefty envelope might attract unwanted attention.
Putnam certainly does not seem to be shrinking from perks. His package even extended to getting his taxes paid.
Archipelago's board paid GSP LLC - the holding company controlling Putnam's NYSE equity stake - the tidy sum of $743,207 to cover tax obligations related to stock price appreciation, according to the prospectus.
Putnam also was paid $148,404 to cover the tax bill for Terra Nova Trading LLC, a firm that is 40 percent Putnam-owned.
And now, Terra Nova Trading itself is on the block, recently valued at $85 million. |
