Nasdaq CEO received smaller bonus in 2012

[April 13, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Nasdaq OMX Group CEO Robert Greifeld, who came under fire for Facebook's botched IPO, had his bonus cut by more than half in 2012, but still managed to take home 11 percent more in compensation than he did the year before.

Greifeld, 55, received compensation totaling $8 million, according to an Associated Press analysis of the New York company's annual proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That's up from $7.2 million in 2011.

In 2012, Greifeld received a salary of $1 million, the same as in 2011. But his performance-based cash bonus dropped 62 percent to $1.4 million from $3.6 million the year before. The drop included a $542,100 cut made by Nasdaq's executive compensation committee.

But the drop was offset by a more than doubling of Greifeld's stock awards, which were valued at $5.6 million when they were granted, compared with $2.5 million in 2011. The stock awards are subject to a three-year cumulative performance period from 2012 through 2014.

Greifeld also received $77,742 in perks, which included costs related to his personal use of a company car and retirement plan contributions. That was down 16 percent from $93,067 in 2011.

Nasdaq was heavily criticized after technical glitches marred the debut of Facebook Inc. last year.

A trading delay and other problems in one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in recent years were a setback for the exchange, which competes with the New York Stock Exchange in listing stocks. Greifeld said at the time that he was "humbly embarrassed" by what happened. He has led the company since May 2003.

Nasdaq, which operates its namesake stock market along with two dozen other trading platforms and clearinghouses in the U.S. and Europe, posted 2012 net income of $352 million, or $2.04 per share, down from $387 million, or $2.15 per share. Revenue fell to $2.56 billion from $2.88 billion.

Nasdaq said in the filing that despite the tough market conditions and lower trading volume that hurt its 2012 results, its performance for the year was "strong." It said it launched its third U.S. options market and attracted to its stock exchange such listing transfers as Kraft Foods and Texas Instruments.

The Associated Press formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest that the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits.

That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards for 2012 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.

Outside AP's compensation total, Greifeld also acquired 75,789 shares that vested with a value of $1.9 million. He also exercised options to buy 1 million shares and realized a value of $19.4 million.

Nasdaq will host its annual shareholder meeting May 22 in New York.

[Associated Press]

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