Viacom CEO Dauman's pay falls 22 pct in 2012

[January 26, 2013]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman's pay package fell 22 percent in fiscal 2012 to $33.4 million. The company cited audience declines at its TV networks and modest growth in operating income as reasons for the pay cut.

Viacom Inc. also decided not to raise Dauman's base salary because of the big pay boost he got for renewing his contract in 2010.

Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone, the company's 89-year-old founder and controlling shareholder, saw his pay package decline 3 percent to $20.4 million.

The figures come from documents Viacom filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The biggest decline in Dauman's compensation came from his performance bonus, which fell to $11.5 million from $20 million in 2011. The company said that for the performance-related portion of their pay, executives would receive about 87 percent of the target.

"Our fiscal year 2012 results reflected both the global economic slowdown and ratings challenges at several of our cable television networks," the company said in the filing.

Dauman, 58, saw no change in his $3.5 million salary from a year ago. His stock awards came to $12.1 million, down from $13.3 million a year earlier. His option award grants were flat at $6 million.

The Associated Press formula of total pay considers salary, bonuses, perks, stock and options awarded to the executive during the year, but not 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.

[Associated Press]

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