AT&T CEO collects $18 million in pay, perks
AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson earned about $18 million last year-about $1.2 million in salary and the rest in performance-based bonuses and stock awards, according to BusinessWeek, which does not rely on company figures and uses its own methods to calculate such things. The non-salary compensation included more than $89,000 worth of personal use of a company plane, more than $15,000 for a home security system and more than $10,000 for a club membership. No one seems to care so far, but those figures might raise eyebrows if the employer were a company other than AT&T. For example, Qwest Communications CEO Ed Mueller was lambasted by some company watchers for a perk that allowed his family to use the corporate jet.
AT&T had a very good year in 2007, rolling out U-verse rapidly, while posting impressive customer and financial numbers. Of course, Stephenson was only in charge for about seven months of 2007. More recently, AT&T has reported seeing some market softness. Do any of these perks seem out of whack, or do they seem perfectly in line with the stature of the job? Post a comment and let us know what you think.
For more:
- read this story at BusinessWeek
Related articles:
- The jet flap landed Ed Mueller in controversy not long after he took over Qwest
Comments (6) | Post a comment
Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 2:23pm | March 12, 2008
His performance does seem a bit out of line since the general employee bonuses that were supposedly company performance based was only 2-3% above the baseline 100%.
By Anonymous | Posted 4:12pm | March 12, 2008
The bonus appears out of whack...especially since what he inherited heavily contributed to AT&T's (and his) performance over his 7 months of '07 tenure. However, the 'perks' such as a home security system, club membership and use of corporate jet is fiscally irresponsible and should not sit well with shareholders. Why shouldn't he (and other CXO's like him) pay for those 'personal' perks out of his own deep pockets??
By Anonymous | Posted 2:19pm | March 13, 2008
I love the way these articles always seem to blow out of proportion contracted items into "total compensation". His employment contract should be available to any board member, of which he is the chairman, and voted on by that same board. Until the boards of directors are held accountable instead of trained monkeys of the Chairmen, nothing will ever change. Until the institutional investors start harumping nothing wil ever change. His base salary is only 24 times the average employee salary, is that out of whack???
By Anonymous | Posted 2:55pm | March 28, 2008
The AT&T Mobility bonus was set at 122% of target. Great news but when you factor in what your salary and bonus compares to a per hour rate, it is not worth it. This company, worried that it cannot find "educated" US citizens, is the same company that treats their employees by instilling fear and overworking their employees. This company is dysfunctional and everything is a fire drill. If anything, Stephenson should be personally thanking each employee for his perks. They make the company, not him.
By Anonymous | Posted 5:11pm | April 1, 2008
I think no one in the company should have perks like this. Perks should be no more than 100% of one's salary.
By Anonymous | Posted 1:10pm | April 15, 2008
HI,
I do not have a problem with CEO salaaries or perks, because the respondsibilities they have are many. When things are up, they are praised, when they are down, you know the other side. I do have a problem with the fact that I am an ex-employee by choice and worked very hard for this company, and due to the fact that I left 2 months before the end of 2007, I did not receieve a bonus that was earned from January 2007-October 2007 when I left. If a CEO can make this much money, how bad would if have hurt to give me and many others what we deserved.
This shows me that I made the right decision.
thanks