By Roger Cheng
Dow Jones Newswires
AT&T Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Randall Stephenson's pay package last year nearly doubled to $29.2 million on changes in pension value and incentive-plan compensation.
His package in 2008 totaled $15.8 million, when he declined to accept a bonus. A company spokeswoman said his taxable compensation, when stripping out stock options and other incentives to be paid later, was $8.3 million.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the telecommunications company said its executive officers didn't receive an increase in salary last year.
According to the company, the differences in salary resulted from salary increases that typically occur in March of each year. As a result, the 2008 amount includes two months of the 2007 salary rate.
Stephenson, for example, had a 2009 salary of $1.45 million, up from $1.42 million in the previous year. But the big changes were the $5.9 million in nonequity incentive-plan compensation for last year - versus none in 2008 - and $9 million from the change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings. The 2008 figure was $764,772.
AT&T spokeswoman McCall Butler said Stephenson had earned a bonus in 2008, but declined it. She added the pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings value was not actual cash received, but the future value of Stephenson's pension.
Meanwhile, wireless chief Ralph de la Vega and Chief Financial Officer Richard Lindner's 2009 compensation nearly doubled as well amid sharply higher stock awards and nonequity incentive compensation.
In January, AT&T reported earnings rose 26% on fewer charges as the company added the second-most wireless subscribers during a quarter in its history. AT&T has successfully used its exclusive agreement to provide service for Apple Inc.'s iPhone as a way to take a bit out of other companies' subscribership.
As with many other companies, shareholders are beginning to angle for more of a say in executive pay. Shareholders proposed an advisory vote on whether they approve or disapprove of the company's executive compensation. Another proposal seeks to remove the use of pension credits in factoring compensation, since they can artificially boost performance and aren't a part of the company's operational performance. AT&T's board recommended voting against both of the proposals.
Shares were flat at $25.60 in after-hours trading.
