After a year in which Johnson & Johnson's product quality control was deemed such a shambles that the U.S. government will oversee some plants, the board had praise for Chief Executive William Weldon and awarded him almost $29 million in overall compensation.

The once golden reputation of the diversified healthcare giant was severely tarnished in 2010 by seemingly endless recalls of high profile consumer products as well as recalls of medical devices and products from other units.

U.S. consumer product sales fell by more than 19% in 2010 as recalls cost the company $900 million in sales, and the company's 2011 forecast for earnings growth of only 1 to 3% fell shy of Wall Street projections.

J&J has lost about $18.5 billion in market value since the end of 2009, its share price declining $6.75 through Wednesday's close. Weldon's compensation was trimmed 7%, but in what appears to be a disconnect with a steady stream of bad news J&J's board, in a year-end regulatory filing, said he "generally met expectations" in a year in which "operational sales declined and fell below the goals for the year."

"The board believes that Mr. Weldon provided strong leadership during a very demanding year and has worked to resolve multiple challenging issues and position the company for future growth," it said in the filing.

The rash of consumer medicine recalls in 2009 and 2010 were largely responsible for the first back-to-back years of company sales declines since World War II.

Last week, U.S. health regulators filed a consent decree against J&J's McNeil consumer unit that will put some of its manufacturing plants under government supervision for at least five years.

"It's pretty common for the board to be pretty forgiving of senior management," said Michael Dauchot, a senior analyst and portfolio manager at RCM Capital Management, which holds J&J shares.

"Obviously there are some endemic problems at the company that need to be addressed," Dauchot said, adding that the board clearly does not believe the blame lies with Weldon.

"The company's decentralized strategy approach to business has kind of backfired on them," he said.

The McNeil unit has recalled more than 300 million bottles and packages of Tylenol, Motrin, Rolaids, Benadryl and other products in the past year over faulty manufacturing and quality control problems.

And Weldon was called to testify before Congress about problems that left pharmacy and supermarket shelves without Children's Tylenol.

But Weldon's 2010 compensation only fell to $28.7 million from the $30.8 million he received in 2009. His performance bonus of $1.98 million was down 45% from 2009.

J&J shares fell 4% in 2010 and are down about 6.8% in 2011. The ARCA Pharmaceutical Index fell 0.5% in 2010, while the S&P 500 rose 12.8%.

The 62-year-old Weldon has not announced any retirement plans and the company has no mandatory retirement age.

Colleen Goggins, head of the problem-plagued McNeil unit, did retire this month. She earned $7.7 million last year. Veronica Cruz, vice president of quality at McNeil, and Hakan Erdemir, McNeil's vice president of  perations, were named as defendants in the government's consent decree.