CEO pay of 2008: Who makes what in Big Biotech?
by Maureen Martino and Calisha Myers
Last month we brought you a list of the top 15 Pharma CEO Paychecks. And as promised, here's a look at the five highest-paid CEOs in the biotech industry.
This year we say farewell to one of the industry's biggest stand-alone biotech companies. Genentech has been officially integrated into the Roche fold and no compensation data was available on CEO Arthur Levinson's 2008 pay. Taking Genentech and Levinson's place is Celgene's Sol Barer.
As the economic crisis continues, some biotech execs saw their compensation fall from 2007 levels. Amgen's Kevin Sharer made $14.5 million, down from almost $20 million last year, and Genzyme's CEO pay slipped slightly from $14.6 million to $13.8 million. But Gilead's Martin and Biogen's Mullen both enjoyed a slight pay raise in 2008. It's worth noting that all of the execs on this list make more than the CEOs of Bayer, AstraZeneca, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline.
Since biotech companies each have their own approach to reporting CEO pay, FierceBiotech's ranking is based on total compensation reported in these companies' SEC filings. The numbers include base salary, bonus and "other" compensation in 2007. Click below to see what biotech's biggest players made last year.
Comments
By NH Head Hunter | Posted 11:48am | July 1, 2009
First, we should not fault the CEO as they do not pay themselves - the board does. Second, to attract the person the board wants, boards must offer a competitive comp package in which case they compare and study the compensation surveys and try to target a reasonable pay plan. The fact that so many CEO's earn a lot of money is a different, but related challenge. Finally, most of teh CEO's compensation is performance based so again we need to be careful. If they don't perform, stock options often end up valueless.
So it comes down to the board developing AND MANAGING a pay-for-performance program that incents the CEO and his/her team to perform. Boards do however need to be more aggressive and decisive in dealing with underperforming executives. All too often they struggle to take the needed steps.
Of course, some people are more upset due to the overall stock market. If these companies were all making us wealthy, I doubt there would be much concern over CEO compensation.
My 2 cents...
By Anonymous | Posted 10:36pm | October 4, 2009
Come on, Leslie, you must know the boards of many of these companies are littered with sychopants who either too lazy or scared to boot their incompetent and overpaid CEO's out. At least that hedge fund manager a few years ago forced PDL's boos out the door, but it was still like pulling teeth.
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