CBS's Moonves Dials in Top Equity Award for March

Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar.

Apparently, CBS Corp. President and CEO Leslie Moonves is well compensated for dealing with such difficult problems as the Charlie Sheen flameout and the disruption of the television network's hit show, “Two and a Half Men.”  Moonves scored the largest stock option grant of March and the second largest equity award of the year. (The largest belongs to Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, who received an equity package worth nearly $167 million—at least in face value—in February.) Moonves received 3.6 million stock options on March 1 with a strike price of $23.19, implying a face value of $83.5 million.

The next biggest award went to General Dynamics Chairman and CEO Jay Johnson. He received 450,470 stock options on March 2 with an exercise price of $74.81, implying a face value of $33.7 million.

Other top stock option awards went to Alfred Amoroso, president and CEO of Rovi Corp, a digital entertainment technology company; Douglas Oberhelman, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar; and Steven Burd, president and CEO of Safeway. They each received a stock-option package with a face value north of $20 million.

In March, restricted stock awards weren't nearly as pricey. The top restricted stock award went to Carl Bass, president and CEO of Autodesk. He received 200,000 shares on March 24 at $43.81, with a value of $8.8 million. Other top restricted stock awards went to executives at Ventas, Kohls, and Hess Corp.

Trends, Performance

Equilar noted that companies continue to issue performance-based options and equity awards. In March, a number of companies used share price appreciation as the hurdle. For example, CSG Systems International granted restricted stock to five executives that carried the following performance-related footnote:

“These awards made on March 1, 2011, contain objective performance goals. For purposes of vesting, the shares are based on the company's attainment of either: (i) a specified adjusted earnings per diluted share target, or (ii) a specified company stock price target, both of which are defined in the restricted stock agreement and which performance goals were previously approved by shareholders.”

Kohl's Corp. also granted performance-based restricted stock to five executives, but it tied performance hurdles to those of its competitors. The footnote read:

“Award of restricted stock under company's 2010 Long-Term Compensation Plan. The restricted shares vest in five equal annual installments on the first through fifth anniversaries of the Grant Date. Vesting is contingent upon the company beating its peer performance index, which measures growth in total sales and comparable store sales, for the company's 2011 or 2012 fiscal years.”

Only one company granted premium-priced options. Alliance One International granted stock options to four executives with an exercise price 51.1 percent higher than the company's closing stock price of $3.97.

A downloadable spreadsheet of the top 10 equity awards in March can be found in the box above, right. Also available are data from 2004-2010.