DreamWorks CEO gets $1 salary

DreamWorks CEO gets $1 salary

	Published : Sat, 31 Mar 2007 01:32 By : Agencies Print this Story

LOS ANGELES (AP) - DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the studio behind the 'Shrek' films, paid chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg $1 in total compensation in 2006 after he waived a stock grant that was to have been valued at $5 million, according to a regulatory filing Friday.

Katzenberg, along with David Geffen and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, control a majority of the company. Combined, Geffen and Katzenberg control 79 percent of the voting power of outstanding shares.

Katzenberg waived his stock award in 2006 and for the next two years to accommodate the salary and equity compensation of the company's president and chief financial officer, Lew Coleman, who was hired in 2005.

The animation studio paid Coleman total compensation of $7.08 million in 2006.

Coleman received a salary of $1.25 million. He also was awarded shares and options that had an estimated value of $5.58 million on the day they were granted, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Coleman also received other compensation of $251,640, which included relocation expenses and reimbursement of taxes he would have to pay in connection with that benefit.

Although Coleman and other executives were eligible to receive cash bonuses because the company achieved some of its financial targets, the board at the request of management elected not to pay the bonuses, the company reported.

The studio, which releases two feature films a year, had mixed results in 2006. Its first release, 'Over the Hedge,' performed reasonably well.

But its second release, 'Flushed Away,' was a box office disaster. The company took a pre-tax charge of $109 million in the fourth quarter related to the film's performance.

In 2006, the company reported net income of $15.1 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with $104.6 million, or $1.01 per share in the year-ago period.

Revenue fell to $394.8 million in 2006, compared to $462.3 million in 2005.

Ann Daly, the company's chief operating officer, received total compensation of $3.74 million in 2006.

Daly received a salary of $1 million. She also was awarded shares and options with an estimated value of $2.69 million on the day they were granted.

Daly also received other compensation of $46,499, which included a car allowance, tax investment counseling and legal services.

The Associated Press' calculations of total pay include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, 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 sometimes differ from the totals released by the companies.