Clawbacks can be hell. Just ask Schering-Plough chief Fred Hassan (photo), who took a big hit to his 2008 compensation because, to speak technically, his stock tanked. Under Schering's pay policy, certain "transformational incentive" stock awards have to be forfeited if future performance targets aren't met. And according to BNet Pharma, that's exactly what happened to Hassan and his team in 2008.
Just what does this mean, dollarwise? We were getting to that. Hassan saw his compensation drop by more than half--half!--with a 2008 package that amounted to $12.9 million. In 2007, his pay rang up at a whopping $30.2 mil. His CFO, Robert Bertolini, also got a 50 percent-plus cut, to $3.4 million from $8.2 million. And so did General Counsel Thomas Sabatino Jr., whose compensation fell to $2.7 million from $6.5 million.
Carrie Cox, president of global pharma, suffered slightly less; her pay fell to $5 million from $9.8 million, a 48 percent decrease. The only exec who got a raise was R&D President Thomas Koestler, whose pay rose to $6.1 million from $5.4 million.
Of course, these guys could more than make up the difference when the Merck merger goes through: Change in control provisions will award them a total of $132 million if they lose their jobs after the deal is finalized.
- read the BNet Pharma story