Dow Chemical CEO Pay Up 16% for 2009
Dow Chemical Chief Executive Andrew Liveris' total compensation jumped 16% for 2009, when the chemical maker bought rival Rohm & Haas and its stock nearly doubled, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Liveris, who is also chairman of the board, made $18,279,792 in total compensation for 2009, compared with $15,704,585 for 2008, as reported by the company. The tally includes salary, bonus, the cost of stock and option awards that vested during the year, nonequity incentive pay, change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings, and other items.
The tally may vary when calculated by pay consultants and corporate governance experts. There is disagreement on whether the SEC-mandated tally obscures what an executive was actually awarded because it counts stock and options as part of total pay when they vest rather than when they are awarded.
Liveris' stock awards increased for 2009 increased to $6.92 million, but his option awards fell to $2.36 million. Much of Liveris' total compensation increase was due to a performance bonus of $4.49 million. He did not receive a performance bonus in 2008. Liveris received $22,154 for a company car, $138,296 for a company airplane, and $62,345 in financial planning assistance.
The value of his pension fell 10.6% to $2.61 million, and his base salary rose less than 1% to $1.65 million. Shares of Midland, Michigan-based Dow jumped 83% in 2009. The company bought rival chemical maker Rohm & Haas on April 1, 2009, for more than $15 billion and spent the year selling off assets to pay for the deal and integrating Rohm's vast assets. Dow's revenue rose 15% in 2009 to $12.47 billion. It posted net income of $87 million compared with a net loss of $1.55 billion in 2008.
