Executives Wages And Salaries

Ingram Micro Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Jerre Stead realized a $15.9-million gain from exercising stock options last year. After exercising options to buy 1 million Ingram shares in December, Stead still has 2.8 million exercisable and unexercisable shares, the company said in its annual proxy statement filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Stead's stake in Ingram was $58.6 million based on Monday's closing stock price of $20.94.

After heading Oakley Inc. for about five months last year, William D. Schmidt departed with more than $1 million--and that might have been a bargain for the sunglass maker. Schmidt, a former Gatorade executive, took the top job May 1 at the Foothill Ranch company, and quickly began expanding its marketing efforts. He abruptly resigned Oct. 6, after what a source said was a clash of management styles with founder and Chairman Jim Jannard.

BankAmerica Corp. multiplied Chairman and Chief Executive David Coulter's pay almost fourfold to $21.2 million in 1997 as the San Francisco-based bank adopted a three-year option program. Under the new program, Coulter, 50, got stock options that BankAmerica said were worth $15.6 million when they were granted, according to the company's annual proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also collected $987,500 in salary, a bonus of $4.

While executive pay continued its meteoric rise overall, some top California executives took big cuts in their core salary or bonuses in 1993. This chart lists the 20 high-level executives at California's 100 biggest publicly held companies who took the largest pay cuts last year. Executive Company Title Michael D. Eisner Walt Disney Co. CEO, COB Jerry St. Dennis California Federal Bank COB William J. Schroeder Conner Peripherals Inc. VCOB Finis F. Conner Conner Peripherals Inc.

Presley Cos. Chief Executive Wade H. Cable saw his 1998 total compensation climb 15.8% last year as the company turned its first profit in five years, according to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cable, who also is president of the Newport Beach-based home builder, took home $549,000, up from $474,888. His base pay of $399,500 was unchanged, but Cable received a $300,00 bonus, half of which will be paid this year, and the other half over the next two years.

The top two officers at New Century Financial Corp., an Irvine-based subprime mortgage lender, saw their pay from salary and bonuses surge 48% in 1998 as the company's profits and stock price rose dramatically. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert K. Cole and Vice Chairman and President Brad A. Morrice each earned $882,493 in salary and bonuses last year. The figures were disclosed Friday in the company's annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

TheStreet.com Inc. founder and columnist James Cramer, never known to shy away from publicity, pulled out all the PR stops Thursday in a bid to breathe life into his company's ailing stock. The financial news Web site said Cramer will give up his $275,000 salary next year and instead take options for 30,000 shares in hopes the stock will recover. Cramer's options give him the right to buy TheStreet.com shares at $19 each. His options will vest in one year. The stock got a lift, rising $2.

Oracle Corp. nearly tripled President Ray Lane's salary and bonus to $3.25 million in a year that Lane, the database software company's second-in-command, was being courted to head Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Lane's salary rose to $1 million, up $25,000, in the fiscal year ended May 31, and his bonus rose to $2.25 million, up from $206,000, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Lane, 52, also received 1.125 million stock options.

Ford Motor Co. disclosed Tuesday that Chief Executive and President Jacques Nasser earned $12.1 million last year as he grappled with the crisis that erupted over deaths and injuries in rollovers of the popular Explorer sport-utility vehicle. The figure, which included salary, bonus and other compensation, marked a nearly 19% increase in compensation for Nasser compared with 1999, when he earned $10.2 million in his first year as president and CEO of the world's No. 2 auto maker.

Enron Corp. confirmed Thursday that it paid $55 million to about 500 key executives, traders and other employees last week on the eve of filing the biggest bankruptcy petition in U.S. history. As those 500 were paid on average $110,000 to remain with the company, the 4,000 Houston-area employees who have since lost their jobs each got $4,500 before taxes and have lost almost all their retirement savings because of the plunge in Enron's stock price.