In the past couple of days, at least two companies disclosed that their top financial executives netted tens of millions of dollars last year from exercising stock options and selling the underlying shares.
Boston Scientific Corp., which develops and manufactures medical devices, announced that Lawrence C. Best, executive vice president for finance and chief financial officer, earned $76.9 million from exercising options. Best’s salary was about $600,000, and his bonus was a little more than $501,000.
Susan L. Decker, Yahoo Inc.’s executive vice president for finance and administration as well as the company’s CFO, took home more than $27.7 million from exercising options. Decker also received $1.8 million in restricted stock, a $900,000 bonus, and $500,000 in salary.
St. Jude Medical Inc. executive vice president and CFO John C. Heinmiller enjoyed a more modest windfall from exercising options, reaping a total of $2.5 million. Heinmiller also received a salary of $483,000 and a $387,000 bonus from St. Jude, which designs and manufactures cardiovascular devices.
Time Warner finance chief Wayne H. Pace, who didn’t exercise stock options last year, nonetheless earned a total of $5.3 million, including a $2.9 million bonus and $1.3 million from restricted stock grants.