Norfolk Southern CEO gets 2008 compensation of $12 million
(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Samantha Bomkamp on March 24, 2009.)
NORFOLK, Va. The chairman, president and chief executive of Norfolk Southern Corp. received compensation valued by the railroad operator at more than $12 million last year, a 3 percent raise from a year earlier, according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing Tuesday.
In a proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Norfolk, Va.-based company said Charles W. Moorman IV took home a base salary of $950,000 in 2008, compared with $800,000 in 2007. Moorman's 2008 salary included some money that he had set aside with the company based on his performance in previous years.
He received a performance-based cash bonus of $1.8 million, more than double the $862,400 he received the year before. Moorman got $132,239 in perks, down from $153,570 in 2007. Those perks included $54,345 for use of the company jet, $39,187 in company matching funds for Moorman's charitable contributions, $17,295 in tax reimbursements, and $4,800 for an annual physical. He also received meals and travel for his spouse and use of some corporate facilities.
The largest portion of his compensation package was in the form of stock options and restricted stock - the awards were worth about $9.2 million on the day they were granted early last year. However, the awards have exercise prices of $50.74, about $17 above the company's current stock price. That means the awards are currently worth much less absent a substantial rebound in stock price.
He received $9.1 million in stock options and restricted stock the year before.
The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.
Norfolk Southern's 2008 profit rose to $1.72 billion, or $4.52 per share, compared with $1.46 billion, or $3.68 per share a year earlier. Revenue rose to $10.66 billion, from $9.43 billion in 2007.
Norfolk Southern boosts compensation of several execs
(The following story by Tom Shean appeared on The Virginian-Pilot website on March 25, 2009.)
NORFOLK, Va. Norfolk Southern Corp. boosted the salaries of several senior executives, but the compensation for some, including its chief executive, declined last year because their stock-related awards fell in value, the railroad said Tuesday in a regulatory filing.
The Norfolk-based company announced separately that Stephen C. Tobias, its vice chairman and chief operating officer, will retire at the end of the March. Tobias, who joined the company in 1969 as a junior engineer, was recognized by the industry magazine Railway Age as Railroader of the Year in 2008.
Mark D. Manion, a 34-year veteran of rail operations, will become executive vice president and succeed Tobias as chief operating officer on April 1.
Norfolk Southern also said that Marta R. Stewart had been named vice president and treasurer as of April 1. She will succeed William J. Romig, who will retire at the end of March after 32 years with the company.
In a proxy statement for its upcoming annual meeting, Norfolk Southern said compensation for its chairman, president and CEO, Wick Moorman, fell 2 percent to $14.23 million despite increases in his salary and non-equity incentive compensation.
Moorman's salary rose by $150,000 last year to $950,000, while his pay from a non-equity incentive plan was $1.76 million, or more than double the year-earlier amount, the statement said.
However, the value of his compensation from stock and option awards fell 12 percent to $9.52 million, according to the proxy statement. The decline was because of accounting rules and the way the company had to recognize the expense of these awards, said Frank Brown, a Norfolk Southern spokesman.
Moorman, 57, has been Norfolk Southern's chairman since February 2006 and its CEO since November 2005.
The proxy statement said the latest figures for executives' salaries and pay from a non-equity incentive plan included deferred compensation from 2006 and 2007. The compensation amounts also included changes in values of their pensions, other deferred compensation and perquisites such as using the company's aircraft.
Tobias ranked second among the company's executives in compensation last year. His compensation for 2008 rose 12 percent to $6.78 million, which included a $50,000 increase in salary to $650,000.
Norfolk Southern reported in January that its net income climbed 17 percent last year to $1.7 billion and earnings per share were up 23 percent to $4.52.
Its railway operating revenues rose 13 percent to $10.7 billion.
On Tuesday, Norfolk Southern's shares rose 86 cents in heavy trading to close at $34.21. During the past year, its shares had been as high as $75.53 in July and as low as $26.69 earlier this month.
Norfolk Southern's annual meeting of shareholders will be held May 14 at the Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
-- Edited by Troll on Wednesday 25th of March 2009 11:48:50 AM
I am truly amazed at sociopaths like this, how they could even justify pulling in numbers like this while people are layed off and struggling to get by. It is like ExxonMobils profits last year when gas was $4 a gallon. But then again, what do they have to fear? Being the good little sheep that we are, we are going to bleat a little bit in protest and that will be about it.
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Some people say I have a bad attitude. Those people are stupid.
