NEW YORK (AP) - The chairman and chief executive of electric and natural gas utility company DTE Energy Co. received compensation valued at about $7 million in 2008, a 2 percent increase from a year earlier, according to an Associated Press analysis of data filed with regulators Monday.
According to DTE’s proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Anthony F. Earley Jr. took home a base salary of nearly $1.19 million, compared with $1.15 million a year earlier.
He received a performance-based cash bonus of $1.5 million, up from $1.3 million in 2007. He also was given $133,891 in perks _ which included the company’s contribution to retirement and savings plans as well as home security, use of a leased vehicle, a security driver, use of corporate aircraft, car washes, maintenance and event tickets. Some of these perks have since been phased out and replaced by an executive cash allowance.
The bulk of Earley’s compensation was in the form of stock options and restricted stock, which had a value of nearly $4.2 million on Feb. 25, 2008, the day they were granted. But since then, the stock has lost about 35 percent of its value, meaning the awards are currently worth much less barring a huge rebound in the stock price.
The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company’s board placed on the executive’s total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive’s compensation in the previous fiscal year.
In 2008, Detroit-based DTE Energy earned $546 million, or $3.36 per share, down from $971 million, or $5.70 per share, in the prior year. Revenue rose to $9.33 billion from $8.48 billion in 2007.
DTE shares fell nearly 19 percent during the course of 2008, and have continued to slide in the first few months of 2009 amid market volatility. They closed up $1.41 at $28.61 Monday.
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