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AJC reporter Russell Grantham is tracking what Georgia’s major public companies pay their top executives. Look for periodic news and trend stories in the weeks ahead, as well as up-to-date statistics, as Grantham pores through this year’s corporate proxy statements.
Coca-Cola Enterprises Chief Executive John Brock was paid $10.2 million in 2012, down 3 percent from the previous year as the recession in Europe bottled up the soft drink bottler’s sales.
Brock, however, had a better year by another measure that tracks how much cash, company stock and other compensation went into his bank account or investment portfolio last year, according to CCE’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By that measure, called “realized pay,” Brock took home $39.8 million last year, an 88 percent jump from the previous year’s realized pay.
Brock’s realized pay included $36.7 million in stock gains last year, primarily because he took ownership of previously awarded restricted stock that “vested,” or became his. He also got other shares after exercising earlier stock option awards. Those earlier stock-related awards have risen substantially in value since the 2007-2009 recession and financial crisis.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s analysis of Brock’s compensation is part of a detailed look at pay for all of Georgia’s top executives over the next two months. Executive pay has become a topic of hot debate in recent years, as the income gap has widened between corporate leaders and rank-and-file workers. In fact, financial regulations enacted in 2010 now require public companies to have a non-binding “say on pay” vote at their annual shareholder meetings where investors give a thumb’s up or down on executive pay plans.
Some firms that advise big institutional investors such as pension funds are increasingly using “realized” executive pay or similar measures to track how well executives’ tangible pay tracks their companies’ financial performance and return to investors.
In CCE’s case, the picture has been mixed. Last year, CCE’s profits fell almost 10 percent, to $677 million, as sales fell almost 3 percent.
But the Atlanta-based bottler has done well for investors lately. Shareholders saw roughly a 30 percent return over the last two years, and nearly a 130 percent return during the 2007-2012 period.
CCE became largely a European company following Coca-Cola’s purchase of its North American operations in a $12.3 billion deal in 2010.
Big stock awards tied to that deal helped boost Brock’s compensation to $22.8 million in 2010, according to the official pay measures reported by CCE’s proxy statement. Those numbers — different from “realized pay” figures — include estimates of the value of stock-related awards on the date they are granted — not when they are vested years later. By those measures, Brock’s pay fell to $10.6 million in 2011 and hasn’t changed much since, according to the SEC filings.
According to the company filing, Brock last year received $2.8 million in cash and bonuses, $7.2 million in stock-related awards and stock options, and $278,805 in other compensation and perks, including use of a company jet and certain “mobility” allowances when he is in Great Britain.
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