Equilar’s research frequently appears in leading media publications, including Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. To learn more about recent coverage of Equilar research, please review the articles below.

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2009 Articles

CRIEnglish.com, December 28, 2009 Executive Compensations "At issue is the cash bonuses received by business executives. In the UK recently, the government announced a tax on banker's bonuses in the lead up to this holiday season. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, says the government is going to hit banking executives who receive a bonus of over 25,000 pounds — or roughly 273,000 Renminbi — with a 50 percent tax on the bonus money this year. First we'll hear from a research firm looking into salaries and bonuses. Aaron Boyd is the Head of Research for Equilar, a research firm in the US specializing in executive compensation and corporate governance."

New York Post, December 21, 2009 Jeff's GE Joyride "While the stock has swooned, Immelt has collected $83.4 million in salary, equity holdings, pension balances and deferred pay balances, according to compensation research firm Equilar."

The Indianapolis Star, December 20, 2009 Christmas Comes Early for Insurance Executives "From 2000 to 2007, Glasscock received take-home compensation of $94.45 million, according to an analysis by Equilar, a California-based research firm specializing in executive pay."

Associated Press, December 19, 2009 Google's Stock-option Reset Coup "Besides Google, 15 other companies also repriced options during the first nine weeks of the year. Ten of those 16 have seen dramatic gains in their stocks since, according to compensation research firm Equilar Inc."

The New York Times, December 17, 2009 At Bank of America, a Chief Steps in Where Few Can "Mr. Moynihan was an unpolished speaker but strong manager who was willing to parachute into sticky situations — much like his new boss. Since 2004, he has earned $59 million in take-home pay working at the bank, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm."

Compliance Week, December 15, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in November "Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar. The largest equity compensation award in November went to Marc Casper, CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific."

Agenda Magazine, December 14, 2009 Activists Push for Equity Hold Beyond Retirement Policies "Slightly fewer than 9% of Fortune 250 companies require their executives to hold some portion of their equity awards to or beyond retirement, but that's up from 5% in 2007, according to Equilar."

The Los Angeles Times, December 11, 2009 Goldman Sachs Scraps Cash Bonuses for 30 Top Executives "'I'm not surprised they're making this move in light of the scrutiny they're getting over their payouts this year," said Aaron Boyd, research manager at Equilar Inc., a Redwood Shores, Calif., firm that tracks executive pay.'"

MassDevice, December 11, 2009 Boston Scientific Founders Cash In "Use grew steadily earlier in the decade, with studies by a prominent executive-benefits consulting firm finding that more than one-third of the companies in the S&P 500 had at least one executive using a 10b5-1 program between 2004 and 2006. Participation has tailed off in more recent years, the Equilar Inc. researchers report, citing increased SEC oversight as one possible factor, along with the hard market slide last year that removed much of the potential profit from executive stock sales."

San Diego Union-Tribune, December 10, 2009 Workers Can Exchange Worthless Stock "Equilar, an executive compensation research firm in Redwood City, identified 214 companies that completed option exchanges or repricings between Jan 1, 2008, and June 30."

The Business Insider, December 8, 2009 CEOs Don't Make Jack Compared To Athletes "But the point to really bear in mind is that nobody decides how much people get paid. The market does. So even if we scream about who deserves what, it's really not a moral issue. It just is how it is. Using 2008 income data from The Sports Review and Equilar, let's compare."

The Corporate Library Blog, December 8, 2009 Lehman and Bear Stearns Executives Made Good After All: Big Surprise? Not. "CEOs are worth it? Even if you believed it last year, you wouldn't vote for it now. But there was a point when Steven Kaplan — Nell's opponent — made this claim: 'average realised CEO pay declined by 25% (according to S&P's Execucomp). And Equilar, another provider of CEO pay data, estimated that the typical CEO experienced a net worth decline of over 40%.'"

InformationWeek, December 7, 2009 Global CIO: The Top 50 Tech Quotes From 2009 "June 17, from BusinessWeek: 'There's a wide gap among the paychecks of IT executives. The top 5 CIOs took home a base salary of $500,000 to $821,000 in 2008, according to Equilar. Yet, the mean salary of IT executives at large corporations was just $142,914 . Do you think limits should be set for CIO pay?'"

Chicago Tribune, December 6, 2009 Executive Compensation: Booth School of Business Professor a Pay Pal of CEOs "CEO pay at public companies is highly tied to stock performance. (Equilar, a leading analyzer of executive pay, concluded that the wealth of corporate CEOs dropped 43 percent in the crisis.) And proponents of more regulation perpetuate this myth by talking about what boards of large companies expect to pay their CEOs in a given year, instead of what they actually get."

San Francisco Business Times, December 4, 2009 Payback's Paradox "According to Redwood Shores, Calif.-based research firm Equilar, CEO average CEO pay at companies in the S&P 500 declined in 2008 by 6.8%."

Gulf News, December 4, 2009 Finding Out How Much Top Bosses Get "Equilar, the company that compiled the compensation data for the Financial Times, reports equity awards in the year they are granted and uses the widely accepted Black-Scholes method when grant-date values are unavailable."

Financial Times, November 29, 2009 Oil and Gas Executive Compensation Survey: Methodology "To examine CEO pay at leading energy sector companies, Financial Times asked Equilar, Inc., an information services firm which specializes in researching executive compensation, to compile and analyze pay data from corporate filings. The data prepared by Equilar includes information for 34 companies headquartered around the globe."

Gannett Washington Bureau, November 23, 2009 Pay for Insurance Executives Targeted in Senate Health Bill "Compensation for top health insurance CEOs increased by about 10 percent between 2006 and 2007, but decreased 19 percent between 2007 and 2008, according to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm."

Compliance Week, November 23, 2009 Equilar: F100 Clawbacks More Prevalent, Broader in Scope "With the spotlight shining ever brighter on corporate pay practices, policies seeking to clawback executive pay are becoming more prevalent and are getting broader in scope, according to an analysis by executive compensation research firm Equilar, Inc."

New York Post, November 22, 2009 It's Good to Be Chief "The Post asked Equilar, an executive compensation research firm, to identify executive and board relationships at public companies valued greater than $1 billion. The focus was on individuals that were connected to multiple companies that consider themselves peers for the purpose of benchmarking executive compensation."

TradingMarkets.com, November 19, 2009 Korn/Ferry Executive Compensation Index Shows Declining Pay for Newly Placed Senior Executives in 2009 "The Korn/Ferry Executive Compensation Index shows declining pay in 2009 for the majority of new senior executives around the world after reaching a peak in 2008. [...] And the New York Times/Equilar found a 9.5 percent decrease in median compensation for chief executives at 200 public companies between 2007 and 2008 as well."

Minyanville, November 18, 2009 Rags to Riches CEOs: Ken Lewis "Lewis will still walk away with a $53.2 million pension, plus deferred compensation valued at $10.6 million, according to an analysis by compensation research firm Equilar."

Compliance Week, November 17, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in October "Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar."

GraefCrystal.com, November 9, 2009 Equilar Releases New Study "As this article was being written, I received a 38-page report from Equilar on a parallel subject, namely, the prevalence of stock ownership guidelines for senior executives. Ownership guidelines are alive and well, despite the recent market crash. Fully 82 percent of the Fortune 250 companies have imposed them on their CEOs and other senior executives."

The New York Times, November 8, 2009 Windfall Seen as Bank Bonuses Are Paid in Stock "Wells Fargo was one of more than a dozen major banks to award executives stock and options since the bailout. In February, the bank gave nearly three million options and roughly 528,000 shares to 11 executives. On paper, the grants have risen in value to $57.3 million from $12.1 million, according to Equilar."

InvestorPlace, November 3, 2009 5 High-Dividend Yielders for the Big Bucks "And according to a recent study released by Equilar, which focuses on pay and benefit information, that average compensation packages is down for the first year since 2002 by an average of 6.8%."

CFO Magazine, November 2, 2009 Losing Altitude "Aaron Boyd, Equilar research manager, notes that the percentage of CFOs who received a bonus declined slightly, from 93.9% in 2007 to 88% in 2008 — another indication that corporate performance is having an effect on compensation. But whether pay for performance worked can only be determined for certain on a case-by-case basis, he cautions. 'There indeed were cases that effectively rewarded or punished an executive, but there were others where pay did not fall in line with how the company performed,' says Boyd."

Agenda Magazine, November 2, 2009 More Companies Require Double Trigger on Equity Awards "As of 2008, 57.7% of Fortune 100 companies' CEOs were entitled to receive single-trigger equity vesting in the event of a change in control, down from 60.9% in 2006, according to Equilar data. The percentage of CEOs with double-trigger equity vesting increased to 32.4% from 28.1% over the same period of time."

CNBC.com, October 26, 2009 Biggest Executive Bonuses of the Past Decade "Given the attention being paid to multi-million dollar paydays, CNBC.com enlisted the help of Equilar, an executive compensation research firm, to find out which executives received the most massive bonus payouts of the decade."

SHRM.org, October 27, 2009 Fortune 500 Executive Comp Peer Groups: How Large? "As attention to executive pay remains high, the government and the news media have magnified their focus on granular details of the executive compensation equation, according to the report by Equilar, a compensation benchmarking and research provider. All aspects of the pay package are under greater scrutiny, including the process behind setting pay."

Reuters, October 26, 2009 REITs Stock Rally Could Fizzle with Results "Since July 1, 2008 SL Green Chief Executive Marc Holliday hasn't bought any of the company's stock, according to executive compensation research firm Equilar. Chief Financial Officer Gregory Hughes and President Andrew Mathias sold shares within that period."

GraefCrystal.com, October 26, 2009 Bank of America's Lewis: Bad But Not That Bad "The compensation data used in this article were obtained from Equilar Inc., a leading provider of executive compensation information."

USA Today, October 23, 2009 Wall Street Feels Wrath of Man on the Street With Exec Pay Cuts "Each company, along with Chrysler and Chrysler Financial whose pay structures Feinberg also ordered changed, received substantial help under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Figures below come from Securities and Exchange Commission filings." Sources: Equilar, an executive compensation research firm based in Redwood Shores, Calif.; ProPublica; USA TODAY research.

Fortune, October 23, 2009 Highest Paid Under 40 "The house may always win, but Wynn Resorts' CFO is on a streak: Since joining the company in 2002 to head financial operations at the Wynn Resort in Macau, Maddox rose quickly up the corporate ladder and last year was promoted to CFO of the company. Now he oversees the entire cash flow of Steve Wynn's casino and hotel empire. And he's become a high roller pay-wise too: With a base salary of $593,590, stock options worth more than $11 million, and stock awards worth more than $5 million, Maddox tops our list of highest-paid public company executives under age 40. Source: Equilar Inc."

The Daily News-Record, October 22, 2009 Skinning The Taxpayers "A report by Equilar, the compensation data services firm, revealed that in contrast to the 4 percent average increase in perks for these financial executives, 'the average awarded to top executives at non-financial companies in the Fortune 100 declined by more than 7 percent over the same period.'"

CNN, October 20, 2009 Wall Street Perks Outrage (Video) "We're talking about personal use of corporate jets, free company car and limousine use, paid dues for country clubs. And what's most amazing is that during 2008 when the economy was going down the tubes and when their companies were pulling in billions of dollars in bailout funds, their perks were going up. According to fresh data from Equilar, the executive compensation research firm now we're going to do this in ascending order so we save the best for last."

CBS.com, October 20, 2009 Bank Perks (Video) Many struggling Americans saw their taxes increase to bail out financial institutions. Now, many of these companies are continuing to hand out huge bonuses. Chip Reid reports.

UPI.com, October 20, 2009 Perks Got Perkier at Bailed out Firms "Equilar, which compiles compensation data, said top executives at non-financial Fortune 100 companies found the value of their perks and benefits dropped 7 percent in 2008, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Firms that received $350 billion in emergency taxpayer assistance, however, increased the same perks for their top executives."

Washington Post, October 20, 2009 At Rescued Banks, Perks Keep Rolling "On average, the chief executives at 29 of the largest public financial companies that have taken bailout funds received perks and benefits worth more than $380,000 in 2008, according to compensation figures included in annual proxy statements and supplied by Equilar, a compensation data services firm."

Boston Globe, October 17, 2009 Mass. CEOs Likely Avoid Salary Cuts Like Lewis's "Pay packages have fallen slightly, though, as the recession cuts corporate earnings and reduces the value of stock awards. Equilar, an executive compensation research firm, estimated the average compensation for CEOs at S&P 500 companies fell 7.5 percent last year."

New York Post, October 16, 2009 Feinberg Lops Lewis' Pay by $1M "Of course, Lewis won't walk away empty-handed. He is on track to take home a $53.2 million pension, as well as deferred compensation valued at$10.6 million, according to an analysis by compensation researcher Equilar."

Washington Post, October 16, 2009 Bank of America CEO to Get No Salary for 2009 "As of the end of last year, Lewis was entitled to receive $53 million in pension benefits and deferred compensation of about $11 million, according to Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm."

The New York Times, October 15, 2009 Vanishing Act: BofA's Lewis Loses His Paycheck "He has taken home $148.8 million from cash and stock sales since taking over the bank in 2001, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm."

Compliance Week, October 13, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in Sept. "Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar."

The New York Times, October 9, 2009 Citigroup Sheds Energy Unit and Its $100 Million Trader "Mr. Hall may no longer be the richest employee at his new company. Ray R. Irani, Occidental's chairman, has collected more than $884.8 million over the last 16 years, according to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm."

ABC News, October 8, 2009 Why Bank of America's Ken Lewis Will Take Home More Than Peers "The $53 million pension and $10.6 million in deferred compensation — previous years' compensation that has been delayed until retirement — for which Lewis is eligible make his exit pay second only to the $161.5 million collected by former Merrill Lynch CEO Stanley O'Neal, according to compensation analysis performed for ABCNews.com by Equilar, a California-based executive compensation firm."

Crain's Chicago Business, October 5, 2009 Directors Still Prefer Face-to-Face Confabs "In fact, even in the teeth of a severe recession, few companies appear to be scaling back the cost of board meetings either via technology, cheaper catering or less-fancy hotels. And meeting costs are not a line item that interests corporate governance watchdogs. California's Equilar Inc. and Corporate Library of Maine say they don't track this data."

MSN Money, October 1, 2009 Is Lavish CEO Pay on the Way Out? "'It's not easy being on the compensation committee these days. It ranks up there with the cable guy,' quipped Doug Friske, a compensation consultant with Towers Perrin, at an Equilar conference on executive comp in New York last week."

Boardmember.com, October 1, 2009 "Clawbacks" of Executive Compensation "In the wake of the SEC's rule changes, there is now more information available about which companies have adopted clawback provisions and the substance of these provisions. A fall 2007 survey by Equilar, Inc. indicates that among Fortune 100 companies, the prevalence of disclosed clawback policies increased from 17.6% in 2005 to 42.1% in 2006."

Boardmember.com, October 1, 2009 Memo to Comp Committees: Don't Let Investors or CEOs Push You Around "Overall, the CEOs' pay still held up better than their counterparts. Nationally, CEOs' median compensation fell by 6.8 percent, according to a study of 208 Standard and Poor's 500 companies by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm in California."

Boardmember.com, October 1, 2009 Pay Cuts in the Boardroom? "According to Equilar, a research outfit that analyzes executive and director pay, outside directors of Fortune 500 companies actually got a raise of 4.7% last year, which lifted their annual median package to $182,102. But at the same time, the number of directors who are taking cuts is rising."

The Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 28, 2009 Nearly 30% of Nonprofit Leaders Took a Pay Cut this Year "The increases that nonprofit leaders received in 2008 are especially noteworthy considering the sharp drop in pay earned by for-profit executives. A survey conducted for The New York Times by Equilar, a San Mateo, Calif., a company that studies executive pay in the for-profit world, found that total compensation dropped by a median of 9 percent in the 2008 fiscal year for executives at the 200 largest companies."

NewsObserver.com, September 27, 2009 Carolinas 50 "Overall, the CEOs' pay still held up better than their counterparts. Nationally, CEOs' median compensation fell by 6.8 percent, according to a study of 208 Standard and Poor's 500 companies by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm in California."

NewsObserver.com, September 27, 2009 Perks Coming Under Scrutiny "A recent Equilar study found that in the first few months of this year, more than 50 companies in the S&P 500 index reduced or eliminated tax reimbursement programs for executives. The median value for some CEO perks is on the rise, however, the study found."

Fractional Life, September 24, 2009 Fractional Jets and Charters are the New Normal for Executive Business Travel "The site talked to several commercial airline and corporate jet industry insiders, who all agreed that the new 'normal' for many bankers and jet-setting dealmakers is now the discreet use of private jets chartered from charter or fractional jet operators. And in a recent study by executive pay consultancy Equilar, companies actually increased the amount they spent on the use of private jets even at the height of the financial crisis last year. That trend, Equilar suggests, seems to be increasing this year as well."

Agenda Magazine, September 21, 2009 CFO Pay Declines In '08; New Metrics Considered "CFO total compensation in 2008 declined, but only a little more than half as much as CEO total comp, according to Equilar research. This year, meanwhile, CFO pay, like that of CEOs, has basically remained flat, according to a survey by Towers Perrin."

Portfolio.com, September 21, 2009 Pay Back "Such clawback provisos are becoming an increasingly common part of executive pay packages, both within the financial-services industry and with many large nonfinancial companies. According to Equilar, a Redwood Shores, California-based compensation research firm, 64.7 percent of the companies in the Fortune 100 had clawback provisions as part of their compensation plan in 2008, up from just 17.6 percent in 2006."

Charlotte Observer, September 21, 2009 Pay for Top Carolinas CEOs Rose Last Year "Aaron Boyd, research manager at Equilar, expects a lot of companies will reassess pay packages. 'Even if a company rebounds very quickly, there could still be a lot of people who were laid off,' he said. 'They don't want to see a CEO get a one-year decrease then get it all back the following year.'"

The Morning Call, September 18, 2009 What They Made: Recession Tinged the Greenbacks Paid to Valley's Bosses "At Lehigh Valley companies, changes in executive pay reflected changes elsewhere in corporate America, said Aaron Boyd, a research manager at Equilar. Because pay often is tied to company performance or stock performance, both of which generally slumped in 2008, many big-wigs had a relatively lousy year. 'It's been a reverse in trend from previous years when pay was going up,' Boyd said. "

Asbury Park Press, September 21, 2009 Cost of Security for CEOs is Ballooning "'Given several notable incidents of violence towards executives, it doesn't come as a surprise that companies are taking increased measures,' Equilar CEO David Chun says."

The Morning Call, September 18, 2009 What They Made: Recession Tinged the Greenbacks Paid to Valley's Bosses "At Lehigh Valley companies, changes in executive pay reflected changes elsewhere in corporate America, said Aaron Boyd, a research manager at Equilar. Because pay often is tied to company performance or stock performance, both of which generally slumped in 2008, many big-wigs had a relatively lousy year. 'It's been a reverse in trend from previous years when pay was going up,' Boyd said. "

The Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2009 2nd Update: Microsoft OKs Shareholder Advisory 'Say on Pay' "The scrutiny has prompted a growing acceptance among public companies of the need for greater disclosure. According to data from executive compensation research firm Equilar Inc., just over half the companies in the Fortune 100 included a 'say-on-pay initiative' in their most recent proxy statement. Of those, just two, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Motorola Inc. (MOT), were proposed by management."

Fast Company, September 18, 2009 Secrets of Leadership Success "A recent Wall Street Journal article 'Hiring a CEO from the Outside is More Expensive' depicts the issues organizations face due to ineffective succession planning. Executive pay tracker Equilar found that firms typically pay 65% more to hire outside CEO's. With burdensome profits and a failing economy organizations need to save costs wherever possible."

The Economic Times, September 16, 2009 3 Indian origin men among 25 highest paid globally: Fortune "According to the list published by Fortune and compiled by executive compensation research firm Equilar Inc, Motorola Co-CEO and CEO, Mobile Devices Sanjay K Jha with a total annual compensation of USD 104.5 million for the year 2008 was ranked second in the list."

CNN Money, September 15, 2009 25 Highest-Paid Men "See how the best-compensated male executives' paychecks compare to the 25 best-paid women. Equilar Inc., an executive compensation research firm in Redwood Shores, Calif., prepared the chart by looking at companies with more than $1 billion in revenues that filed proxies by Aug. 15."

The Times of India, September 15, 2009 Nooyi Named Among 25 Highest-paid Women in World: Fortune "Catz has been named as the highest paid woman executive with a pay package of USD 42.4 million in the list published by Fortune and compiled by executive compensation research firm Equilar Inc. for the US magazine."

Compliance Week, September 15, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in August "Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar. The largest equity compensation award last month went to Lawrence Prior, president and COO of Mantech International. On Aug. 3 he received a grant of 400,000 options with a strike price of $54.16, implying a face value of $21.7 million."

Market Watch, September 14, 2009 SEC Targets Consulting Fees for CEO Pay Packages "From 2007 to 2008, 5% of Fortune 1000 companies told investors how much they paid executive compensation consultants, up from 3.5% a year earlier, according to Equilar, an information-services firm that analyzes compensation data. Full-service firms held about 60% of the market for CEO pay advice; boutique shops did gain ground in 2008."

USA Today, September 8, 2009 Spending on Personal Security Perk for CEOs is Skyrocketing "The median spending on personal and home security for CEOs at the 100 largest publicly traded companies was $65,348 in 2008, up 123% from $29,291 in 2007, according to executive compensation research firm Equilar. Ten companies alone spent a total of $4.6 million on CEO security in 2008, 40% more than the 10 biggest spenders of 2007."

The Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2009 Congress May Consider Tax on Executives' Health Plans "A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine criticized executive physicals as "almost a parody of the high-cost, low-return procedures that prudent companies rightly want clinicians to eliminate for other employees." Yet according to a survey by compensation research firm Equilar, 29% of the 100 largest companies disclose executive physicals in their annual filings, and at least 116 companies with revenue exceeding $1 billion offered the perks."

Fox Business, September 8, 2009 Firms Paying More to Keep CEOs Safe: Report "Data from executive-compensation research firm Equilar that were reported in USA Today showed that Dell spent $1.2 million in 2008 just for protection for CEO Michael Dell. Other top spenders on CEO security according to the Equilar report included Walt Disney, which spent $645,368 on security for Robert Iger; FedEx, which shelled out $595,875 to protect CEO Fred Smith; and Occidental Petroleum, which paid $575,407 for the safety of Ray Irani."

Plastics News, September 8, 2009 Plastics Executives Do Ok in '08 "Equilar Inc. of Redwood City, Calif., analyzed more than 200 CEOs on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Results showed median CEO pay fell 6.8 percent in 2008 to $8,446,935, compared to the 4 percent median increase in compensation for the top 150 executives in the Plastics News ranking. For S&P 500 companies, 2008 marked the first decline in median CEO pay since 2002. Equilar also found that the median cash bonus for S&P CEOs declined 20.6 percent to $1,473,520."

Plastics News, September 8, 2009 More Incentives Hang on Long Haul "Aaron Boyd, a research manager for Equilar Inc., thinks that companies will readjust or review their metrics to see what works best and to make sure that their plans are aligned to company goals. Equilar of Redwood City, Calif., provides the data for Plastics News' executive compensation ranking."

Plastics News, September 8, 2009 Cash Key to Short-term Survival "'Companies are struggling to set performance standards that remain relevant over the course of an entire year, [so] rather than use annual incentive plans, some firms have adopted quarterly or semi-annual plans that allow for the adjustment of performance targets as prevailing conditions change,' the Equilar report said. That allows companies to 'conserve shares if stock prices improve and, conversely, avoid a situation where entire annual equity grants are severely underwater if stock prices continue to move downward.'"

Business Finance, September 3, 2009 Full Disclosure: Companies Want to Know about Director Compensation "Companies are looking for more information on director compensation and benchmarking pay, according to the executive compensation data and benchmarking firm Equilar. Those two subjects topped the list of the company's custom research requests received in a recent 30-day period."

Footnoted.org, September 1, 2009 From the Archives: Marvel's Newest Superheroes "Companies are looking for more information on director compensation and benchmarking pay, according to the executive compensation data and benchmarking firm Equilar. Those two subjects topped the list of the company's custom research requests received in a recent 30-day period."

Business Insider, August 27, 2009 CEO Compensation Still Fat Despite Collapse In Business "The article notes research from data tracker Equilar that on the whole compensation for the average CEO at an S&P 500 company fell last year by 7.5% — that's nowhere near the decline for the index as a whole."

BusinessWeek, August 26, 2009 CEO Pay: Is It Still Out of Sync? "Total compensation for the average CEO at an S&P 500 company declined last year by 7.5%, or $700,000, according to data tracker Equilar. And executives such as General Electric's Jeffrey R. Immelt have declined their bonuses, while the CEO of bailed-out Citigroup, Vikram Pandit, has sworn to take no more than $1 per year until the bank returns to profitability."

Compliance Week, August 25, 2009 Exclusive Report: Perks Still Common, Despite Economy "In addition, a recent analysis of benefits and perks by research firm Equilar shows that in the first few months of 2009, more than 50 companies in the S&P 500 index reduced or eliminated tax gross up programs for executives."

The Wall Street Journal, August 24, 2009 Valeant CEO's Pay Package Draws Praise as a Model "The pay formula is no guarantee of success. Several concerns controlled by private equity failed recently, including Chrysler Group LLC. Former Merrill Lynch & Co. CEO John Thain bought more than $11 million of shares during his first year, according to pay researcher Equilar Inc. He was forced out in January after Bank of America Corp. acquired Merrill amid mounting losses."

Corporate Board Member Magazine, Third Quarter 2009 Memo to Comp Committees: Don't Let Investors or CEOs Push You Around "These forces are pressing boards to rethink what and how CEOs are paid. By the end of 2008, median CEO pay at S&P 500 companies had fallen 6.8%, to $8.4 million, according to Equilar, a Redwood Shores, California, outfit that analyzes executive compensation."

The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2009 CEOs Hold Off Exercising Options, but Not Ellison "So far this year, 34 of the 143 CEOs of Silicon Valley's biggest public companies by revenue have exercised stock options, according to an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by compensation-research firm Equilar Inc."

Compliance Week, August 18, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in July "Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar."

Calgary Herald, August 15, 2009 Poor Year Erodes Calgary Executive Pay "In the United States, a survey by Equilar showed that median CEO compensation among S&P 500 companies fell in 2008 for the first time since 2002, declining by 7.5 percent. Again, it was mainly due to lower bonuses, with one in five CEOs getting no bonus at all."

Globe and Mail, August 14, 2009 GM's Wagoner Gets $10-million to Retire "Although many GM retirees whose benefits have been cut or investors who lost money may consider Mr. Wagoner's package excessive, it is not out of line in comparison to other executives' pay, said Aaron Boyd, a research manager with Equilar Inc., an information services firm that specializes in researching executive compensation. 'For a company making billions of dollars in revenue, an executive regularly making millions of dollars every year, I think a $10-million retirement package, considering the length of time that he's been with the company, I think it's certainly understandable,' Mr. Boyd said."

R & D Magazine, August 13, 2009 Research Underpins SEC Scrutiny of Scheduled Insider Trade "The 'harder look' prompted in part by Jagolinzer's research may already be changing the behavior of insiders. Last year, usage of these plans declined, possibly because of SEC scrutiny, according to a Reuters news agency report, which attributed the information to Equilar, a research firm. Stock market declines may also have prompted participants to suspend activity as the year drew to a close, Equilar said."

St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 11, 2009 General Mills CEO's earnings more than doubled to $9.2M "Equilar — a California-based firm that tracks compensation trends — noted in a report published this summer that the median value of aircraft-related perks among Fortune 100 companies has increased at an annualized rate of 12.2 percent from 2004 to 2008."

ABC News, August 11, 2009 So Much for the Pay Czar? Wall Street Paydays Keep Coming "Orcel and Montag's reported 2008 compensation actually dwarfed that of Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, who received a total of just over $9 million, according to Equilar, Inc., an information services firm specializing in executive compensation. Lewis' pay was also several times smaller than that of his Citigroup peer, CEO Vikram Pandit, who received $38.2 million in 2008, according to Equilar."

Global Research, August 10, 2009 'Working Poor' report: Nearly 30 Percent of US Families Subsist on Poverty Wages "A survey carried out in March by Equilar and reported by the New York Times revealed that the CEOs of the 200 largest publicly traded companies earned an average of $11.7 million in 2007."

The Birmingham News, August 9, 2009 On the Record with David Sasaki of Equilar "Few topics this year have aroused Main Street, Wall Street and the Beltway as much as compensation for the chief executives of the nation's publicly traded companies. Add in government oversight because of U.S. Treasury bailouts of financial firms that then paid lavish bonuses to the executives that created the mess, and the attention rises to that usually reserved for Superbowls and elections. David Sasaki is an expert on all of the above. He is the associate research director for California-based Equilar, a company relied upon by everyone from Fortune 500 companies to Congressional committees for its executive pay number-crunching."

Vancouver Sun, August 8, 2009 Part Two of Getting Real: Say over CEO pay "The economic crisis is speeding up the independent consultant trend. Full-service firms such as Mercer Ltd. and Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin had 69% of the pay consultancy business in 2006, but their share shrunk to 66% in 2007, according to compensation research firm Equilar Inc."

AISHealth.com, August 6, 2009 Blues Plans Are Criticized on Executive Compensation; Some Adjust Pay Based on Economy "These changes involve reducing salaries and changing the short-and long-term incentive opportunities to reflect the expectations of lower performance going forward.' Overall, he says, 'According to Equilar, Inc., total compensation of S&P 500 executives at companies that have filed their proxy statements so far, CEO pay has dropped by 6.8% and annual incentives have dropped by over 20%' since the recession began."

Arkansas Business, August 3, 2009 Executive Pay in State Sees Modest Gains in 2008 "Maybe one of the reasons Arkansas execs fared better than many last year was uncovered by Equilar Inc., a data-tracking firm, which found that CEO compensation rose at smaller firms in 2008 in contrast to the lower compensation in larger companies."

The Denver Business Journal, August 3, 2009 Smaller Companies and New CEOs Help Account for Plunge in Pay "This reversal is only partly a local phenomenon. Nationally, the uncertain economy and battered share prices have pushed down CEO compensation by 6.8 percent from the year before, according to a recent survey by Equilar Inc. But this years Minnesota CEO pay is lower than any of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journals composite totals of the Top 100 CEO Compensation lists in the past 10 years. Something more is at work here."

Fox Business, July 29, 2009 Alcoa Chairman to Retire "According to Equilar, his 2007 base salary was $1,457,500. Starting Aug. 1, Belda will receive annual compensation of $192,500 as a director's fee, which will be prorated between his retirement on August 1 and the April meeting. He will also receive $140,000 annually to cover office space and support staff for five years."

Fortune Small Business, July 29, 2009 FSB 100: 20 highest-paid CEOs "Data for our 20 Highest Paid CEOs list comes from executive-compensation research firm Equilar. Total compensation includes base salary, bonuses, cash incentive-plan payouts, stock and option awards and perks as reported in corporate filings."

WebCPA, July 28, 2009 Levin, McCain Introduce Stock Options Deduction Bill "According to an Equilar Inc. analysis of SEC filings, the CEO of Oracle Corp. collected $543 million in stock options gains in 2008. The CEO of Qualcomm collected $209 million in stock options gains in 2008, while the CEO of Occidental Petroleum collected $184 million."

Agenda Magazine, July 27, 2009 Top Comp Consulting Firms' Market Share Down Slightly "The top 10 executive compensation consulting firms saw their combined market share at Fortune 1000 companies slip to 84.9% last year, according to Equilar. That's out of 53 comp consulting firms listed by Fortune 1000 companies as advisors to their boards in 2008."

Associated Press, July 26, 2009 Ind. Sen.'s Wife's Health Care Income in Spotlight "WellPoint accounted for the biggest single source of Susan Bayh's board income, paying her $976,000 in cash, stock options and stock awards from 2006 to 2008, according to Equilar, a California-based executive-compensation research company."

InvestmentNews, July 26, 2009 Reform Efforts on Compensation Aim at Industry "Indeed, chief executive officers at large financial institutions earned a median of 71.4% of their compensation from incentive payments, even in a year where financials substantially underperformed the markets, according to data from the Equilar Inc., a compensation research firm in Redwood Shores, Calif."

The Indianapolis Star, July 26, 2009 Susan Bayh an Issue in Fight over Health Care "WellPoint also accounted for the biggest single source of Susan Bayh's board income. The company paid her $976,000 in cash, stock options and stock awards from 2006 to 2008, according to Equilar, a California-based executive-compensation research company."

The Roanoke Times, July 26, 2009 Businesses Reel From a Power-bill Surge "According to an Equilar, Inc. analysis of SEC filings, the CEO of Oracle Corporation collected $543 million in stock options gains in 2008. The CEO of Qualcomm, Inc. collected $209 million in stock options gains in 2008, while the CEO of Occidental Petroleum collected $184 million."

The Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2009 SEC Orders Ex-CEO to Return Pay "More companies are adopting clawback policies. Compensation data-tracker Equilar Inc. says 64% of Fortune 100 companies had clawback provisions last year, up from 42% in 2007. Most of those provisions apply only when executives are involved in misconduct."

Tax Analysts, July 22, 2009 Levin Introduces Bill to Update Stock Option Accounting, Tax Rules "According to an Equilar, Inc. analysis of SEC filings, the CEO of Oracle Corporation collected $543 million in stock options gains in 2008. The CEO of Qualcomm, Inc. collected $209 million in stock options gains in 2008, while the CEO of Occidental Petroleum collected $184 million."

Directorship Magazine, July 21, 2009 Separation Anxiety: Splitting the Chair, CEO Roles "The chair should be paid more than a lead director, but less than the CEO. A study from compensation research firm Equilar finds that the median incremental pay for non-executive chairs in 2008 was $150,000, compared to $20,000 for the lead director."

USA Today, July 17, 2009 CEOs Openly Oppose Push for Say-on-pay by Shareholders "CEO median compensation at S&P 500 companies rose 23% from 2003-2008 despite going down 7.5% to $8 million from 2007 to 2008, according to Equilar, which tracks executive compensation."

Financial Post, July 17, 2009 Research Underpins SEC Scrutiny of Scheduled Insider Trades "Numbers for 2008 are not out yet, but the trend is gaining momentum, says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar.'The level of scrutiny has ratcheted up to such a high degree on executives, directors, and now the thought is that consultants will be next,' said Mr. Cwirko-Godycki."

BNET, July 16, 2009 There's No Recession for (Most) Insurance CEOs "But here's some good news: insurance CEOs are still making money. A study by compensation research firm Equilar shows that, among the largest financial firms, five executives ranked in the top 10 in 2008. Do they deserve all this shareholder largesse? Equilar provides some yardsticks."

Stanford Graduate School of Business, July 16, 2009 Research Underpins SEC Scrutiny of Scheduled Insider Trades "The 'harder look' prompted in part by Jagolinzer's research may already be changing the behavior of insiders. Last year, usage of these plans declined, possibly because of SEC scrutiny, according to a Reuters news agency report, which attributed the information to Equilar, a research firm."

CIO Canada, July 15, 2009 Research Underpins SEC Scrutiny of Scheduled Insider Trades "In some cases, Canadian CIO salaries dwarf that of U.S. CIOs. Last month Equilar, a firm which researches executive compensation, said the top 5 highest-paid CIOs took home a base salary of US$500,000 to US$821,000 in 2008."

The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2009 Divorce Puts Light on United Technologies Jet Use "A review of SEC filings of Fortune 100 companies by Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation research firm, shows that the median reported value of a chief executive's personal travel was $141,477 last year. For 2008, United Technologies reported Mr. David's personal travel at $309,865 and that of Mr. Chenevert, the current CEO, at $93,435."

Associated Press, July 14, 2009 Ex-GM CEO Gets Retirement Package Worth Over $10M "Although many GM retirees whose benefits have been cut or investors who lost money may consider Wagoner's package excessive, it is not out of line in comparison to other executives' pay, said Aaron Boyd, a research manager with Equilar Inc., an information services firm that specializes in researching executive compensation. 'For a company making billions of dollars in revenue, an executive regularly making millions of dollars every year, I think a $10 million retirement package, considering the length of time that he's been with the company, I think it's certainly understandable,' Boyd said."

Compliance Week, July 14, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in June "Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar. The largest grants of stock options in June went to Robert Greifeld, the CEO of Nasdaq OMX Group."

BNA Publications, July 13, 2009 SEC Rule Proposes Expanded Disclosure; Study Reveals Consultants' Market Share "In light of the continuing controversy over the role of compensation consultants and actions taken by the SEC, the California-based information services firm Equilar Inc. undertook an analysis of compensation consultant market trends."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 9, 2009 Sunoco Offers $7 Million to Lure CFO Away From Dell "That's a lot of money, but not out of line with what other CFOs are making. According to Equilar Inc., a research firm that focuses on compensation, the median salary for a CFO that's worked for a large public company for at least two years was $532,758 in 2008."

The Seattle Times, July 8, 2009 Nickels Gives City Light Chief $40,000 Bonus "The bonus is nothing compared to bonuses at publicly traded utilities. Stephen Reynolds, CEO of Puget Energy, got $788,906 in 2008 as part of his $3.3 million pay package, which also included stock awards valued at $1.3 million at the time they were given, according to Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm."

Agenda Magazine, July 6, 2009 Governance Activists Assail Watson-Towers Merger "The recently announced merger would make two of the biggest compensation consulting firms even bigger. An analysis of Fortune 1000 companies by Equilar shows that Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt held the first and fifth largest comp consulting market shares in 2008. The combined firm's total market share would be over 25%."

World at Work Journal, July 2, 2009 Pre-Holiday Tidbits and Brags "'It was a pretty good overview piece that included data from Booz, Equilar and WorldatWork — our recently released severance survey. The first piece of data mentioned right at the top about the small decline of CEO turnover in the past couple of years is a little mysterious to me."

Compliance Week, July 1, 2009 Pay Trends Beyond The S&P 500: Changes Coming "An Equilar analysis of CEO compensation at 1,064 public companies with annual revenues under $1 billion found notable shifts among those firms in some compensation practices, including bonus plan design."

Stores Magazine, July 1, 2009 Retail CFOs See Their Roles and Compensation Increase "There is a bit of consolation for this weary group of c-level executives: Median total compensation among CFOs at a select group of companies rose 7 percent last year, according to data compiled for STORES by Equilar, an information services firm that tracks executive and director compensation."

Agenda Magazine, June 29, 2009 Jet Perks Increase in Value and Prevalence "The nation's largest companies spent nearly 30% more on CEO aircraft perquisites in 2008 than in 2007, according to new research by Equilar. The median value of these perks was $141,477 in 2008, versus $109,743 in 2007."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 28, 2009 Top 100 Highest Paid CEOs 2009 "Selected from large- and mid-cap publicly listed companies with headquarters or major operations in the 10-county region. Total Pay includes Equity Pay. Percent change is compared to the previous year's pay. The median total pay in 2008 was $2.42 million, down 9.6 percent from the previous year. Also shown is the CEO's accumulated pension. Data Source: Equilar Inc."

New York Daily News, June 26, 2009 What Recession? CEO Use of Private Jets Increases in 2008 "Equilar's report states that companies' expenditures for private jets rose 29%, from $109,743 in 2007 to $141,477 in 2008. Equilar said that the rising expenditures may be caused by the rising cost of fuel."

Business Courier of Cincinnati, June 26, 2009 Which Cincinnati CEOs Provide Most Bang for Buck? "The median value of bonuses among the Standard & Poor's 500 companies declined by almost 21 percent in 2008 over 2007, according to researcher Equilar Inc. Cincinnati's 38 CEOs bucked the trend, with a 10 percent increase in overall bonuses."

Business Courier of Cincinnati, June 26, 2009 Which Cincinnati CEOs Provide Most Bang for Buck? "That's a better showing than that of the CEOs of the S&P 500, whose median pay package declined almost 7 percent in 2008, to $8.4 million from $9.1 million, according to Equilar Inc., a compensation research firm in San Mateo, Calif."

Forbes, June 24, 2009 The State of The CEO, 2009 "How are today's bosses doing in terms of compensation? Equilar's CEO Pay Strategies Report for 2009 looked at the CEOs of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index and found that their total compensation fell 7.5% between 2007 and 2008. That was the first drop since 2002."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 24, 2009 Cigna Corp. Chief Executive Steps Down "Hanway's total pay in 2008 was $11.4 million, according to Equilar Inc. Cigna announced in January that it would eliminate 1,100 positions, or 4 percent of its workforce. The announcement did not include details about where jobs would be cut. The company plans to consolidate some of its real estate locations."

Assembly Magazine, June 24, 2009 Obscene Numbers "According to Equilar Inc. (Redwood Shores, CA), a company that tracks executive compensation, the typical CEO at an S&P 500 company received a median total pay package of $8,446,935 in 2008 vs. $9,061,057 in 2007."

Associated Press, June 22, 2009 CEO Salaries Drop 6% Across Northwest "Lower pay for Northwest CEOs was part of a national trend: Median compensation for CEOs of the 500 largest U.S. companies fell 7.5 percent last year to $8 million, according to Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, which analyzed pay for The Seattle Times."

Agenda Magazine, June 22, 2009 More Lead Directors Paid for Their Services "Last year, 51.6% of companies provided additional compensation to lead directors, up from 45.7% in 2007, according to Equilar which based its research on 395 companies in the Fortune 500. Meanwhile, 76.7% of non-executive chairs received a premium for their services, down from 83.1%."

Agenda Magazine, June 22, 2009 Boom Time Coming for Option Exchanges "Already option exchanges have been on the rise this year as the recession has pummeled stock prices. In the second quarter of 2009, 37 companies completed such plans, and another 71 are pending, according to Equilar."

Press of Atlantic City, June 22, 2009 Area CEOs Paid Less in Recession, Amid Outrage "In its own study, Equilar, a California-based firm that looks at executive pay, found that the median CEO pay of S&P 500 companies dropped 6.8 percent last year to $8.45 million — the result, in part, of a 20.6 percent drop in bonus payouts."

The Seattle Times, June 21, 2009 The Five Top-paid Northwest CEOs in 2008 "The five top-paid CEOs in the Northwest received a combined $54 million in 2008, down from $93 million the year before, according to an analysis for The Seattle Times by Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm in the Bay Area."

The Seattle Times, June 21, 2009 Median Pay for Top Execs of Northwest Companies Goes Down "In 2009, more CEOs are volunteering for pay cuts and forfeiting some or all of their bonuses as the recession drags on, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar. About 375 publicly held companies in the United States have reduced salaries for top executives in the past year, according to Equilar."

The Seattle Times, June 21, 2009 Northwest Companies Cut CEO Pay "Lower pay for Northwest CEOs was part of a national trend: Median compensation for CEOs of the 500 largest U.S. companies fell 7.5 percent last year to $8 million, according to Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, which analyzed pay for The Seattle Times."

The Seattle Times, June 21, 2009 Equilar Uses Company Data to Rank CEO Pay "The Seattle Times' CEO pay rankings are based on data from Equilar, an executive-compensation-research firm near San Francisco. Equilar examined the pay packages of 135 CEOs at publicly traded companies headquartered in Washington, Oregon and Idaho."

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, June 21, 2009 Recession Whacks Away at Executive Compensation "Equilar, Inc., a California-based executive compensation research firm, said that in 2008 the median CEO compensation for companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell nearly 7 percent — the first time pay dropped since 2001, when the economy was reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the collapse of the dot-com bubble."

The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 19, 2009 Special Report: Executive Compensation in Greater Cincinnati "Last year, chief executives at S&P 500 companies earned a median $8.4 million. But less than a third — $2.2 million — was in easy-to-count cash, according to data collected by Redwood Shores, Calif.-based research firm Equilar. The rest was delivered in the form of company equity — stocks and options."

The Financial Times, June 18, 2009 Executive Pay: A Long-term Perspective May Be the Way to Retain Talent "'Performance-based compensation no longer simply means options or restricted shares,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, a leading executive compensation research firm. 'Pay plans will increasingly have specific performance targets that have to be met.'"

Network Computing, June 18, 2009 Hewlett-Packard's Randy Mott Tops List Of 5 Best-Paid CIOs "Mott, whose powerful leadership of the IT transformation at HP was the subject of an excellent analysis late last year by my colleague Chris Murphy, earned $24.65 million in total compensation for 2008, according to a BusinessWeek article based on a report from compensation firm Equilar."

The Indianapolis Star, June 14, 2009 'Biz Buzz': CEO Pay, Best Workplaces "An analysis in Sunday's Indianapolis Star showed that average compensation dropped by 19.6 percent in 2008. But average annual CEO pay was $3.6 million for 44 Indiana CEOs whose pay history was followed by Equilar."

InformationWeek, June 17, 2009 Socialism Hits Home As BusinessWeek Asks, Should CIO Pay Be Limited? "There's a wide gap among the paychecks of IT executives. The top 5 CIOs took home a base salary of $500,000 to $821,000 in 2008, according to Equilar. Yet, the mean salary of IT executives at large corporations was just $142,914 in a January 2009 IT salary survey by research and consulting firm Janco Associates."

Ecommerce Journal, June 17, 2009 Where CIOs are Best Paid in America? "As it was estimated, according to a BusinessWeek article based on a report from compensation firm Equilar. Mott earned $24.65 million in total compensation for 2008, getting a total compensation package consisted of a base salary of $690,000; a bonus of $7.07 million; non-equity incentive plan of $16.07 million; stock awards of $638,820; and other compensation of $185,418."

InformationWeek, June 16, 2009 Hewlett-Packard's Randy Mott Tops List Of 5 Best-Paid CIOs "Mott, whose powerful leadership of the IT transformation at HP was the subject of an excellent analysis late last year by my colleague Chris Murphy, earned $24.65 million in total compensation for 2008, according to a BusinessWeek article based on a report from compensation firm Equilar."

St. Petersburg Times, June 16, 2009 Neiman Marcus Joins Retailers Cutting Hours to Save Money "Hard times at retail ate into many of the fat pay packages for top executives leading the 50 largest publicly traded retail companies in 2008. In fact, average CEO compensation dropped 26 percent, compared with a 7 percent decline among all CEOs at S&P 500 companies, says an analysis compiled by Equilar Inc. for industry journal Stores."

Compliance Week, June 16, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in May "According to Equilar, premium-priced grants and grants with shorter-term options continued in May. Both types of grants had been common in recent years, but began to be less popular when the financial crisis and stock market crash hit last fall."

The Indianapolis Star, June 14, 2009 Despite Tough '08, It Pays to Be a CEO "But million-dollar-plus annual salary packages were still the norm for most Indiana CEOs of companies traded on major stock exchanges, according to an analysis conducted for The Star by Equilar, an information services company specializing in executive compensation research."

The Indianapolis Star, June 14, 2009 How the Top Executives Are Paid "Here's a breakdown of the 2008 compensation of chief executive officers of public companies based in Indiana or with major operations in the state. Click on the company name or executive name fields to re-sort the list by those fields. Prepared for The Indianapolis Star by Equilar, Inc."

The Patriot Ledger, June 13, 2009 No Recession for CEOs "In a survey of Fortune 400 companies by executive compensation specialists Equilar, CEOs got an average of nearly $340,000 in perks in 2008, or nine times the median salary of a full-time worker. Equilar found that the value of perks increased in 2008 among Fortune 400 companies."

Reuters, June 12, 2009 Mozilo Case Sparks New Scrutiny of CEO Trading Plans "Last year, usage of these plans declined, possibly in part because of SEC scrutiny, according to research firm Equilar. Stock market declines also may have prompted participants to suspend activity as the year drew to a close, Equilar said."

MSN Money, June 12, 2009 Why Execs' Fat Perks Roll On "We're talking about corporate CEOs who earned, on average, $10.8 million last year at 198 large companies with revenue of at least $6.3 billion, according to the compensation experts at Equilar. And about perks trickling down to top deputies paid nearly as well."

BusinessWeek, June 11, 2009 The 5 Most Highly-Paid CIOs "Randall Mott, CIO of Hewlett-Packard, for example, took home more than $24 million in 2008 when you count base salary, bonus, payouts from non-equity incentive plans, stock awards and other compensation, according to Equilar, Inc., an information services firm specializing in executive compensation."

The Wall Street Journal Blogs, June 11, 2009 CEO Use of Private Jets Rose in 2008 "As it turns out, companies actually increased the amount they spent on private jets last year. According to a study released this week by executive pay consultant Equilar, most corporate jet perks remain strong, and there is no sign they are fading."

The San Francisco Chronicle, June 11, 2009 Bottom Line: London Drumming Up Projects for 2012 Olympics "Now what about a say on CEO aircraft perks? According to Equilar Inc., the Redwood City executive compensation research firm, Fortune 100 company honchos have been making more private use of corporate jets than ever."

The New York Times, June 10, 2009 Treasury to Set Executives' Pay at 7 Ailing Firms "The Obama administration's sweeping new proposal to restrict executive pay is likely to be a humbling exercise for seven of the nation's largest companies, which have received billions of dollars in federal assistance to survive the economic crisis. (See graphic for Equilar data.)"

AOPA Pilot, June 10, 2009 Are You Kidding Me? "According to a study released on Tuesday by executive pay consultant Equilar, some companies put an end to these privileges of personal flights, but most of them continue this practice and there is no any signal of such perks fading."

ABC News, June 10, 2009 Private Jet Use by CEOs Skyrockets "Fortune 100 CEOs used private aircraft more in 2008 than in any of the previous five years, according to a new study by Equilar, a firm that tracks executive compensation. 'Equilar most recent research suggests a reluctance on the part of companies to eliminate or reduce aircraft perks,' the report said."

Ecommerce Journal, June 10, 2009 CEOs in America Cannot Stop Using Corporate Jets "According to a study released on Tuesday by executive pay consultant Equilar, some companies put an end to these privileges of personal flights, but most of them continue this practice and there is no any signal of such perks fading."

Private Jet Daily, June 10, 2009 Equilar Study Indicates That CEOs Still Use Private Jets "The report also found that the value of CEO airplane perks was highest in 2008 in the last five years. Its overall value grew by 29 percent compared to 2007. However, Equilar noted that the rise in fuel costs for 2008 may explain the increase."

Reuters, June 9, 2009 U.S. CEOs Still Fly in Style Despite Economy "Some companies have stopped underwriting these personal flights in recent years amid shareholder scrutiny of executive pay practices, but overall CEO aircraft perks are showing no signs of fading, according to a study released on Tuesday by executive pay consultant Equilar."

Pioneer Press, June 7, 2009 For Minnesota's CEOs, Bonuses Whacked, but Pay Stays Intact "It was a similar story nationally, as bonuses to chief executives at SP 500 firms were down nearly 21 percent, according to Equilar, a California-based firm that tracks executive compensation trends. Overall, CEO pay at SP 500 firms fell by 6.8 percent — the first such decline tracked by Equilar since 2002."

DesMoines Register, June 7, 2009 CEO Pay Dropoff in '08 Mirrored Economy Slide "By comparison, the median compensation of chief executives at S&P 500 companies fell 6.8 percent, according to Equilar Inc., a California research company that tracks executive pay. 'We don't see pay falling very often,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar."

San Jose Mercury News, June 6, 2009 Valley CEO Pay Down, but Not by Much "That drop was bigger than what was seen among the S&P 500 group of companies, where bonuses were down 22.2 percent, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, an information services firm specializing in executive compensation research that supplied CEO compensation data to the Mercury News."

San Jose Mercury News, June 6, 2009 Silicon Valley Companies Relying Less on Stock Options "Among the other findings of the survey, conducted for the Mercury News by Equilar, an information services firm specializing in executive compensation research, the median pay package for a Silicon Valley CEO fell 5.6 percent last year, to $2.2 million. That compares with a decline of 7.5 percent among the Standard & Poor's 500 group of companies, to $8 million."

San Jose Mercury News, June 6, 2009 What the Boss Makes "This table presents the 2008 compensation for 145 chief executives heading Silicon Valley's largest companies based on revenue. The data was compiled from proxy filings made by May 30 and analyzed by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm."

The New York Times, June 5, 2009 Bank of America Ousts Head of Risk Oversight "Ms. Brinkley received no bonus last year. But she took home at least $37.2 million during her tenure as Bank of America's risk chief from 2001 to 2007, according to an analysis by Equilar, a compensation research firm."

Stores Magazine, June 4, 2009 As Sales Get Pinched, CEO's Belts Get Cinched "Median CEO compensation fell 23 percent year over year, and average compensation declined 26 percent at the 50 public companies analyzed for STORES by Equilar. Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Redwood Shores, Calif.–based Equilar, notes that retail CEOs took a harder hit to their wallets than was the case for chief executives at S&P 500 companies."

The Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2009 CEO Pay Rises at Smaller Firms "Last year, it may have paid to run a smaller firm. That's the lesson of a pair of studies by data-tracker Equilar Inc., which found that CEO compensation rose at smaller firms in 2008 even as it sank at larger ones. Median pay for CEOs of public companies with less than $1 billion in revenue rose 8.1% to $1.3 million in 2008, according to Equilar."

The San Francisco Chronicle, June 4, 2009 Google's Move to Reprice Options Picks Up Steam "Especially in Silicon Valley, described as 'a hotbed of option exchange activity,' by Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, the Redwood City executive compensation research firm. In the past two months alone, 100 companies have adopted a repricing program, compared with just seven in the first quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Equilar."

Market Watch, June 3, 2009 Starbucks Completes Employees Stock-option Swap "Since 2008, at least 136 companies have proposed or completed an option-exchange program, according to data from compensation-researcher Equilar as of April 7. They include eBay Inc., Google Inc. and Intel Corp."

World at Work Journal, June 2, 2009 Seattle Conference Tidbits: Tuesday "'Pat McGurn of RiskMetrics and Dave Chun of Equilar did a provocative session this afternoon looking back at 2008 proxy data and executive compensation. McGurn opened the session by saying that he was working on a baseball analogy for his 2009 Seattle presentation when speaking proposals were due in October of last year."

CFO Magazine, June 1, 2009 Fray on Pay "'Specific caps on compensation are not very likely,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at compensation benchmarking firm Equilar Inc., 'but there is definite momentum behind say-on-pay provisions, mandates for wider clawback policies, and increased compensation disclosure requirements, among others.'"

Miami Herald, June 1, 2009 CEOs to Pay Taxes on Perks "Compensation-research firm Equilar reports that 59 percent of S&P 500 companies paid at least some tax gross-ups last year, down from 61 percent in 2007. In the first four months of 2009, 53 companies in the S&P 500 index announced the elimination or reduction of tax gross-ups."

American Medical News, June 1, 2009 Health Plan CEO Pay Declines in Weakened Economy "That decrease is steeper than the average among the CEOs of companies in the S&P 500 Index, who saw an average drop of 6.8%, according to an analysis by executive compensation research firm Equilar."

Palm Beach Post, May 31, 2009 Immune to Pay Cut? Not CEOs "The smaller executive paychecks here reflect a national trend. Median pay for CEOs dipped by 6.8 percent from 2007 to 2008, the first drop in CEO pay since 2002, according to a study of 208 large companies by Equilar, a Redwood Shores, Calif., firm that tracks executive compensation."

The Economist, May 28, 2009 Surviving the Slump "Times are so tough that even bosses are taking pay cuts. Median pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008, according to Equilar, a data provider. The overthrown titans of Wall Street took the biggest knock, with average pay cuts of 38% and median bonuses of zero."

Financial Director, May 25, 2009 US CFO Salaries Swell to Fill Bonus Vacuum "According to US-based executive compensation research outfit Equilar, the annual median base salary for S&P-500 CFOs increased by 6.6% in 2008, from $500,000 to $532,758. But aggregate bonus compensation (the sum of all bonuses CFOs received) dropped by 26.2%, falling from $287.2m to $211.8m in the year."

Automotive News, May 25, 2009 Industry's Haircut Takes a Bit Off the Top of CEO Pay "The number of CEOs whose compensation fell 'is definitely a higher percentage' than in most other business sectors, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar, Inc., the executive compensation research firm that conducted the pay survey for Automotive News."

Automotive News, May 25, 2009 On GM Payroll, Wagoner Waits for Pension Money — Stuck on a Buck "'They're all out of the money and worthless,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation research firm. 'They represented a significant part of his pay package over the years.' Equilar found that in Wagoner's 17 years as a senior executive, he earned about $9 million by exercising stock options."

The Chicago Tribune, May 24, 2009 Adding Up What CEOs Made "To examine compensation trends, the Chicago Tribune asked Equilar Inc., an executive compensation research firm based in Redwood Shores, Calif., to gather data on the pay of chief executives of the 100 largest public companies in Illinois and northwest Indiana, as determined by market capitalization on March 31."

The Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2009 Sitting Pretty "Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., the Redwood Shores, Calif., data analysis firm that conducted The Times' survey, said he expected more reductions in executive pay when 2009's results are reported next year. 'There's a delay between when the message is sent and when companies start taking action,' Cwirko-Godycki said. 'I think you are going to see bigger cuts in 2009.'"

Crain's Chicago Business, May 23, 2009 Leveling the Field "The uncertain economy and battered share prices pushed down the value of U.S. CEOs' total 2008 compensation by 6.8% from the previous year, according to a recent survey of Standard & Poor's 500 companies by Equilar Inc. This marks the first drop in CEO pay in six years, according to the California firm, which tracks compensation."

Puget Sound Business Journal, May 22, 2009 Washington State Public Company CEOs Take Hit in Total Compensation "From 2007 to 2008, average CEO total compensation declined by 11.9% according to an analysis conducted for the Puget Sound Business Journal by Equilar Inc., a Redwood Shores, Calif.-based compensation research firm. Equilar looked at 35 of the largest companies in our survey."

World at Work Journal, May 19, 2009 Designing a Repayment Policy May Be Harder Than You Think "Repayment policies have become prevalent among large companies and are rapidly expanding to others as a 'best practice.' For example, a 2008 study by Equilar, a proxy research firm, found that approximately 64% of the Fortune 100 companies had repayment policies. This was a significant increase from the 18% that disclosed such policies in 2006."

Agenda Magazine, May 18, 2009 Recession Forces Boards to Consider New Bonus Metrics "In addition to changing metrics, comp committees have also been considering altering time and other conditions for bonuses. 'It's difficult for companies to set meaningful goals,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar. 'They're setting performance goals based on shorter measurement periods.'"

Tampa Bay Business Journal, May 15, 2009 Directors' Pay Demonstrates High Demand "Directors' pay jumped, even as CEO pay dropped, both in the Bay area and nationally. A study by Equilar, a San Francisco information services firm, found CEO pay dropped 6.8 percent in 2008 for S&P 500 companies."

Compliance Week, May 12, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in April "According to Equilar, premium-priced grants and grants with shorter term options reappeared in April. Both types of grants had been common in recent years, but began to be less popular when the financial crisis and stock market crash hit last fall; neither type were awarded in March."

Market Watch, May 11, 2009 Disney's Dinosaur "There are three big differences between Iger's 2008 employment contract and his original agreement, signed in October 2005 when he became Disney CEO, according to Equilar Inc., a firm that analyzes executive compensation."

Agenda Magazine, May 11, 2009 Discretionary Awards Fuel Drop in Executive Pay "Median total bonus payouts for CEOs fell 19.1% to $889,715 in 2008, from $1,100,000 in 2007, according to an analysis by Equilar of 173 companies reporting compensation data for fiscal years ending between June 30, 2008, and December 31, 2008."

Business Rockford, May 9, 2009 Following AMCORE Directors' Money Trail "But at other companies across the country, the trend is edging in a different direction as boards cut their compensation deals in the face of job cuts and falling stock prices. In fact, 43 public companies had already cut their boards' compensation by March, according to California-based Equilar Inc. — the same number that did so in all of 2008."

PlanSponsor, May 6, 2009 CFO Pay Drops 4% in 2008 "According to a new study by Equilar, median CFO pay fell by 4% from 2007 to 2008 to $2,725,791. An Equilar press release said declines in overall compensation levels were principally driven by a steep drop in median cash bonus payouts, which fell by 22.6% over the same period to $431,300 from a median payout of $557,316 in 2007."

Directorship Magazine, May 6, 2009 Director Pay Increases Despite Scrutiny "From 2007 to 2008, median board-level compensation for non-employee directors at Fortune 500companies increased by 4.7 percent, according to recent report by Equilar on executive compensation trends."

The Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2009 CFO Pay Drops as Bonuses Shrink "Lower bonuses dragged down chief financial officer compensation in 2008, according to a new study by compensation-research firm Equilar Inc. Though salaries for CFOs rose last year, median total compensation dipped 4.0% to $2,725,791. A 22.6% drop in the median cash bonus — to $431,300 — drove the decline."

CNBC, May 4, 2009 The Highest Paid Chief Executives "The New York Times tasked Equilar, an information services firm that specializes in executive compensation, to compile data on the 2008 compensation of 200 chief executives at 198 public companies. All the firms surveyed filed their annual proxies by March 27 and had revenue of at least $6.3 billion."

Agenda Magazine, May 4, 2009 More Companies Tie Incentive Pay to Environmental Metrics "Last year, 26 of 455 S&P 500 companies (or 5.7%) had executive bonus plans with goals based on environmental targets or sustainability initiatives, according to data provided by the executive compensation research firm Equilar at Agenda's request. That compares to 4.8% of the same number of companies in 2007 that disclosed such bonus plans."

AIS Health, May 4, 2009 Blues Plans Are Criticized on Executive Compensation "According to Equilar, Inc., total compensation of S&P 500 executives at companies that have filed their proxy statements so far, CEO pay has dropped by 6.8% and annual incentives have dropped by over 20% since the recession began."

Corporate Board Member Magazine, May 1, 2009 Time to Bury Golden Coffins? "A recent study by Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm, found that in 2006, among the 93 public companies in the Fortune 100, more than 17% of the CEOs and 16% of the other top executive officers had golden-coffin agreements."

World at Work Journal, May 1, 2009 What is the Role of Equity in the New Environment? "'Any mention of the current economic environment brings a litany of disturbing statistics: 90 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs hold underwater options, according to the November 2008 issue of Equilar Inc.'s Executive Compensation Trends Newsletter. The average stock price on the NASDAQ and S&P 500 is half of its June 2007 average."

Treasury & Risk Magazine, May 1, 2009 Compensation Cyclone "Treasury & Risk commissioned a study of the compensation of 50 Fortune 500 CFOs from Equilar, a Redwood Shores, Calif.-based executive compensation research firm, that shows median total compensation dropped 10.5% to $4.696 million, from $5.246 million in 2007, for the 30 CFOs in office for at least two years."

The Albany Business Review, May 1, 2009 Is the Belt Tightening on Exec Pay? "According to a survey by Equilar, a California-based compensation research firm, median pay for the CEO of a U.S. S&P 500 company fell 6.8 percent in 2008, but still totaled $8.4 million. The median salary rose 6 percent, to $1.06 million, while the median bonus fell 21 percent, to $1.5 million."

Tampa Bay Business Journal, May 1, 2009 Some CEOs Sacrifice, Some Don't "Nationally, median pay for CEOs at S&P 500 companies fell by 6.8 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, according to a study by Equilar, a San Francisco information services firm. The 2008 drop was the first decline in CEO compensation since 2002, when median pay fell by 9.9 percent, Equilar said."

Dayton Business Journal, May 1, 2009 Dayton CEOs See Double-digit Average Pay Hike "On average, pay for S&P 500 companies' CEOs fell between 6 and 8 percent from 2007 to 2008, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager with Equilar Inc., a California-based information services firm that specializes in researching executive compensation."

The Daily Record, April 29, 2009 Constellation CEO Shattuck Takes Pay Cut "Executive compensation analysis firm Equilar studied Constellation's proxy report, and based on its calculations, Shattuck earned $9.9 million in 2008, a 41 percent drop from his $16.8 million payday in 2007. Equilar comes up with its compensation totals by adding base salary, bonus, long-term incentives, stock awards, options awards and perks from the company's SEC filings."

Agenda Magazine, April 27, 2009 The Case for Corporate Jets "A total of 28 U.S. companies, including Altria and Universal, disclosed the sale or planned elimination of corporate aircraft in the prior two years, the Journal reported, citing data from Equilar. Bristol-Myers Squibb was among companies looking to sell corporate jets. Hit hard by the financial crisis, E*Trade Financial sold two Challenger jets earlier in 2008."

Agenda Magazine, April 27, 2009 Dozens of Boards Ending Tax Gross-Ups for Execs "Amid public outcry over executive compensation, 43 S&P 500 companies will no longer pay certain taxes for their top executives in 2009. So The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a review of this year's regulatory filings by Equilar."

Florida Times-Union, April 25, 2009 Jacksonville-area CEOs' Pay Down 11 Percent from Last Year "The local data goes along with national trends. According to Equilar Inc., a California information services firm that specializes in executive compensation, the median CEO pay at S&P 500 companies fell by 6.8 percent last year, driven mainly by a 20.6 percent drop in median cash bonuses."

Investors Business Daily, April 24, 2009 No Profit, No Bonus? CEO's Pockets Shrink "The total median pay of S&P 500 CEOs fell 6.8% in 2008, according to an early review by compensation research firm Equilar. Corporate proxy statements, which report the prior year's CEO pay, are still trickling in. While the final picture won't be clear until all the figures are in this summer, the firm says last year saw the first collective pay cut for corporate chiefs since 2002."

Investment Dealer's Digest, April 24, 2009 Back to the 70's for Street Pay "The 2008 bonus pool dropped a precipitous 47% to $18 billion from $36 billion in 2007, according to compensation data provider Equilar. The average bonus for a managing director at a global investment bank spiraled 55% to between $900,000 and $1.1 million, according to Options Group, while that of an investment banking vice president fell 55% to between $300,000 and $400,000."

The Northern Miner, April 24, 2009 Economic Downturn Shines Spotlight on Compensation Packages "Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a Research Manager for Equilar, an information services firm in Redwood Shores, California that tracks executive compensation, says he believes companies will be more cautious about how they design pay packages going forward. 'The burden of proof is squarely on companies,' he says."

The Daily Record, April 23, 2009 CEO Salaries Take a Hit "Equilar, a compensation research firm, pulled data for The Daily Record reflecting pay for chief executives at 17 public companies headquartered in Maryland that filed their annual proxies by April 20. The breakdown of pay shows reductions in all areas of compensation."

Forbes, April 22, 2009 The Right Way to Pay "The biggest 100 companies also blew a median $15,600 in 2007 on financial planning for their bosses. Another $29,300 per firm went to personal and home security and $109,800 to personal use of corporate aircraft. Shareholders shelled out $34,400 per company to cover taxes on the perks, figures executive pay researcher Equilar."

World at Work Journal, April 22, 2009 Gross Out "The article was based on an analysis recently conducted by our old friends at Equilar indicating that 43 of the 500 companies in the S&P index are now reporting that they will no longer cover the tax incurred for certain executive benefits."

The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2009 Firms End Key Benefit for Executives "As the recession fuels outrage over executive-pay excesses, 43 companies in Standard & Poor's 500-stock index will stop paying certain taxes for their top brass this year, according to a review of 2009 regulatory filings for The Wall Street Journal by compensation-research firm Equilar Inc."

Editor's Guild Labor News, April 21, 2009 Exposing a Culture of Executive Privileges "'Last year, the jeweler reimbursed Mr. Kowalski for $136,560 in taxes on a company-paid life insurance premium of $162,175. In 2008, 60% of S&P 500 companies provided gross-ups on perks like club memberships and personal use of corporate jets, according to another Equilarstudy.'"

Directorship Magazine, April 21, 2009 Some Executives Losing Tax Benefits "Dozens of U.S. companies will not pay certain taxes for top executives this year, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to a review of 2009 regulatory filings for WSJ by compensation-research firm Equilar, 43 companies in Standard & Poor's 500-stock index will stop paying certain taxes for their top brass this year."

Workforce Management, April 20, 2009 Ahead of the Game "In 2008, 64 percent of the Fortune 100 companies had a publicly disclosed clawback policy, up from 42 percent in 2007 and 17 percent in 2006, according to Equilar. Most cover cash bonuses and equity incentive compensation, but most apply only to the top five executives and limit the trigger to unethical behavior."

SHRM Magazine, April 20, 2009 Keeping Compensation Committees on an Even Keel "Total director compensation rose nearly 50 percent between 2002 and 2007, from $130,600 to approximately $194,300 per year. All data is cited under an agreement with Equilar, an information services firm."

St. Louis Business Journal, April 17, 2009 Build-A-Bear Cuts Extend to Directors' Pay "Kevin Nussbaum, president of CBIZ Human Capital Services in Creve Coeur, said the most recent survey by Equilar found about 30 public companies had reduced compensation from June through December, and he expects that number to rise as proxy season unfolds."

MinnPost, April 17, 2009 Pay Cuts: New Trend Takes Hold "Another study of S&P 500 CEO compensation found that their median pay fell by 6.8 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to Equilar, a compensation analytics firm in Redwood Shores, Calif. Median cash bonus payouts fell 20.6 percent in the same period."

The New York Times, April 17, 2009 Companies Reset Goals for Bonuses "'The disclosures we're highlighting were very far and few between in past years,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, which identified several modified bonus plans for The Times. 'It's safe to say that this crisis environment, whatever you want to call it, is forcing companies to try to make these changes.'"

BusinessWeek, April 17, 2009 CEO Compensation Ups and Downs "Perhaps more interesting is seeing how much the compensation has fallen or risen from the previous year. According to information services firm Equilar, the average overall compensation for S&P 500 CEOs dropped by 6.8% from 2007 to 2008; the bonus component of compensation dropped by 20.6%."

The Lakeland Ledger, April 17, 2009 Publix CEO Pulls In Less Than Winn-Dixie Chief "Total compensation for Winn-Dixie Chief Executive Peter Lynch came to $2.9 million last year, more than triple the amount brought in by Publix chief Ed Crenshaw, who made roughly $800,000, according to figures in a recent New York Times story about executive pay trends in 2008. The figures, provided by the research firm Equilar, don't seem to add up."

Bureau of National Affairs, April 17, 2009 Cash Bonus Payouts in Sharp Decline "The principal driver of the decline in overall compensation levels was a sharp drop in median cash bonus payouts, which fell by 20.6 percent during the study period, according to an April 7 study released by Equilar, a California-based executive compensation information services firm."

The Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2009 CEO Wealth Shrinks in 2008 "CEO paychecks took a hit last year; their wallets likely suffered even more. That's what a study of big-company CEOs by compensation-data tracker Equilar Inc. found. Equilar totaled the value of stock holdings, equity awards, deferred compensation and pension benefits for 208 CEOs of S&P 500 companies with fiscal years ending between June 30 and Jan. 31."

MSN Money, April 15, 2009 CEOs Earn Big Bonuses for Bad Year "Among all the Fortune 1,000 companies, nearly 400 CEOs got bonuses last year, taking home $402 million in annual bonus pay, according to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm. But that's only part of the picture; more bonus pay figures will roll in as additional companies file reports on 2008."

Compliance Week, April 14, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in March "According to Equilar, performance-based grants were the order of business in March; in a break from the last few months, no 'premium-priced' grants or grants with shorter-term lengths were issued. (Premium-priced grants and shorter terms had been common for the last several years, until the stock market crash last fall made both types of grants much more rare.)"

Agenda Magazine, April 13, 2009 Compensation Plans Drive Burn Rate Rise "Equilar's latest study of S&P 500 CEO pay trends shows that median CEO pay fell by 6.8% from 2007 to 2008. But the declines in overall compensation levels cited by Equilar were principally driven by a steep drop in median cash bonus payouts, which fell by 20.6% over the same period.

The Patriot News, April 12, 2009 Recession Changes our Views on Jobs, Salaries "You know it's bad out there when CEO pay and bonuses decline and even Major League Baseball teams are cutting back. Equilar, a leading information services firm that tracks executive compensation, reported that median CEO pay fell by 6.8 percent from 2007 to 2008."

BNET, April 9, 2009 Should Companies Reprice Underwater Stock Options? "Stock options are widely used to incentivize managers and employees while aligning their interests with shareholder's. As of two months ago, executive compensation firm Equilar estimated that about three quarters of options held at Fortune 500 companies were underwater. I assume the percentages are now even higher."

The Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2009 Executive-pay Clampdown Gets Backing from Goldman Sachs CEO "'Companies want to control these issues before legislation does it for you,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for compensation information firm Equilar Inc. 'This is somewhat analogous to the movie industry, which created their own rating system before someone else did it for them.'"

The Washington Post, April 8, 2009 Bailed-Out Firms Clamber to Satisfy Say-on-Pay Proviso "Median pay for chief executives fell by 6.8 percent in 2008 compared with the previous year, the first time in six years that compensation declined, according to a study published yesterday by Equilar, an information services firm. (See graphic for Equilar data.)"

Phoenix Business Journal, April 8, 2009 US Curbs on CEO Pay Still Fragile "Median CEO pay fell by 6.8 percent in 2008, according to a survey of S&P 500 companies by Equilar Inc. That marks the first drop since 2002 when compensation fell by nearly 10 percent, according to the California firm, which tracks executive pay."

Business Standard, April 8, 2009 CEO Pay at US Cos. Shrink 6.8% in 2008 "The average pay of a chief executive at an American company fell by 6.8 per cent in 2008, as entities made steep cuts in bonuses in the wake of the financial meltdown. Last year, the average cash bonus payouts for chief executives tumbled by 20.6 per cent, the study by executive compensation research firm Equilar said."

Business Standard, April 8, 2009 US Curbs on CEO Pay Still Fragile "Board directors have noticed. Median pay for bosses at the biggest US public companies to file their proxies so far fell 9.4% according to a study the New York Times commissioned from Equilar. That may sound like a lot until one considers the average S&P500 company lost close to 40% of its stock market value during the year."

BusinessWeek, April 7, 2009 CEO Pay Down? Not So Fast "Over the weekend, the New York Times' study, which uses data from compensation research firm Equilar, found that median total compensation was down 9.4% last year. Equilar released its own press release today, saying that overall CEO pay fell by 6.8% from 2007 to 2008, the first significant drop in seven years."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 7, 2009 CEOs Boosted Salary, Stock, Cut Bonuses in '08: Study "Median CEO pay fell by 6.8% from 2007 to 2008, to an average $8.45 million, at the 208 Standard & Poor's 500 companies that have reported so far this Spring, says compensation tracker Equilar Inc. Salaries were up: From 2007 to 2008, the median base salary for S&P 500 CEOs increased by 5.7%, rising from a median of $1,000,000 to $1,057,118."

Portfolio Magazine, April 7, 2009 No Tears for CEO Pay Decline "Cash bonuses fell by 20.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, according to Equilar, a company which tracks executive compensation. For S&P 500 companies, that drove overall compensation down by 6.8 percent over the same period, the study found. This was the first significant drop in CEO pay since the economic downturn in 2001 and 2002, but may well not be the last."

PlanSponsor, April 7, 2009 CEO Pay In The S&P 500 "Aggregate executive compensation fell by 8.9% in 2008 over 2007, according to an Equilar study of 208 Standard & Poor's 500 companies. Meanwhile, median CEO pay fell by 6.8% from 2007 to 2008, to $8.45 million."

Computer World, April 7, 2009 Tech CEOs top NYT List of Executive Pay "Motorola co-CEO Sanjay K. Jha nailed the top spot with a 2008 compensation package of $104.4 million, including salary, stocks, stock options and "perks," all as calculated by compensation research firm Equilar for the Times."

CNBC, April 7, 2009 CEO Pay In The S&P 500 "On the heels of it's of report on CEO pay at the 200 largest U.S. companies, pay researcher Equilar releases data later this morning on what the chiefs of the S&P 500 firms made last year. Of course we have it first on CNBC. Median pay at the S&P 500 is close to the big 200, though the decline in pay was actually smaller."

Bloomberg, April 7, 2009 Trailer Bridge Jumps Before Insiders Exercise Options "'If the market price is more than the strike price, the shares can be sold at a profit. If not, exercising the options may produce a loss. If the options had expired, they'd get nothing,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation firm based in Redwood Shores, California."

CNN Money, April 7, 2009 Apple Tops in Cap Growth, Bottom in CEO Pay "The list, compiled by Equilar, is especially interesting because it posts, right next to the CEO's total compensation, his or her company's performance in terms of revenue, profit change and total return. On this list, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, with his $1-a-year salary, comes in at the bottom, tied for last place with Richard Kinder, CEO of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP)."

Trading Markets, April 7, 2009 Bonus Busters "The list has been prepared on the basis of data on public companies in America provided by executive compensation research firm Equilar Inc. The total compensation includes salary, bonuses, perks and stock grants and stock options. At the sixth spot is Hewlett-Packard's Mark Hurd with a payout of US$34 million."

Reuters, April 6, 2009 Comcast CEO Roberts Makes the Top 15 on Pay "As Comcast filed on April 3rd, it was not included in the New York TimesEquilar Special Report on executive pay which ran in Sunday's paper. The Times report was based on data reflecting pay for 200 chief executives that had filed their annual proxies by March 27 and whose companies had revenue of at least $6.3 billion."

The Times, April 6, 2009 Bonus Busters "Setting aside the political wrath, the state of the economy has already taken some froth off supersize pay. Equilar, an American compensation research house, is finalizing its annual executive pay data. Research manager Alexander Cwirko-Godycki expects the average pay deal to have fallen this year by between 5% and 10%, the first drop since 2001."

Huffington Post, April 6, 2009 Sanjay Jha Gets Last Year's Top CEO Paycheck: $104 Million "As the economy melted down last year, so did CEO paychecks. The average compensation for 200 chief executives at America's largest public companies fell 5.1% last year to $10.8 million, according to a survey published Sunday by the New York Times and research firm Equilar."

National Review Online, April 6, 2009 Go Figure: CEO Pay Actually Down in the Past Year "Equilar, a research firm working for the New York Times, finds that median pay for the nation's CEOs dropped 9.4 percent from last year; the average pay is down 5.4 percent. Some of this is a reflection of compensation in the form of stock options being worth less, as many companies' stock prices have declined in the past year."

CNBC, April 6, 2009 CEO Pay Falls "In a study for The New York Times, pay researcher Equilar reviews CEO pay at 198 companies with revenue of more than $6.3 billion. Median or mid-point pay fell 9.4% to just over $8.4 million. Average pay fell 5.4% to $10.8 million. This should be good news for proponents of pay for performance."

CNN Money, April 6, 2009 10 Biggest CEO Paychecks "Equilar Inc., an information services firm that specializes in researching executive compensation, used corporate filings to calculate pay data for 200 top executives at public companies with annual revenue of approximately $6.3 billion or higher. To be included in the study, a company must be incorporated in the U.S. and have filed a proxy by March 27."

The Dallas Morning News, April 6, 2009 Hewlett-Packard's Mark Hurd Received $23.9 Million Bonus in 2008 "Most of Mr. Hurd's total compensation came from his $23.9 million cash bonus — the largest of anyone in the Equilar survey. Last year, Hewlett-Packard reported a 13 percent uptick in revenue on a 15 percent gain in earnings. Shareholder returns, however, fell 25 percent."

GraefCrystal.com, April 6, 2009 True Sacrifice: CEO Pay Rises 2% in 2008 "But whereas I concluded that year-over-year pay had advanced by 2 percent, Equilar's study showed a decrease of 9.4 percent. So who is right here? The answer is that both findings are likely right. First, there are some methodological differences in measuring pay."

The Economic Times, April 6, 2009 CEO Pay in US Drops With Economic Meltdown "The average compensation for 200 chief executives at America's largest public companies fell 5.1 per cent last year to $10.8 million, according to a survey published Sunday by the New York Times and research firm Equilar. The decline marked the first time in five years that top executives' pay packages shrank compared to the year before."

The Financial Times, April 5, 2009 Pay Proposals to Dominate Proxy Season "Along with say on pay, stock option repricing proposals are expected to be a more closely watched issue for mutual funds this year. More companies made option exchange or repricing offers to address underwater employee stock options in the first month of 2009 compared to all of 2007, according to the research firm Equilar."

Bloomberg, April 5, 2009 Motorola's Jha Is Top Earner; Executive Salaries Drop, NYT Says "Jha was paid $104.4 million, of which $103.5 million was stock and option grants, and he received perquisites such as use of corporate aircraft and relocation expenses worth $412,096, the newspaper said, citing a study by Equilar. Jha is Motorola's co-chief executive with Gregory Brown."

CNN Money, April 5, 2009 Last Year's Top CEO Paycheck: $104 Million "As the economy melted down last year, so did CEO paychecks. The average compensation for 200 chief executives at America's largest public companies fell 5.1% last year to $10.8 million, according to a survey published Sunday by the New York Times and research firm Equilar."

The New York Times, April 4, 2009 Who Moved My Bonus? Executive Pay Makes a U-Turn "The compensation research firm Equilar recently compiled data for The New York Times reflecting pay for 200 chief executives at 198 public companies that filed their annual proxies by March 27 and had revenue of at least $6.3 billion. (Two companies, Motorola and Synnex, had co-C.E.O.'s.)"

The New York Times, April 4, 2009 How the Pay Figures Were Calculated "To measure the amounts that executives were paid last year, Sunday Business asked Equilar, an information services firm that specializes in researching executive compensation, to compile and analyze pay data from corporate filings. The analysis is presented in the accompanying table."

SHRM Magazine, April 1, 2009 Executive Pay: Perception and Reality "This year, compensation committees will be mindful of the need to differentiate between prudent risk and riverboat gambling. 'They're talking about attaching strings, deferring bonus payouts for three or more years, even until retirement,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for executive compensation at Equilar Inc. in Redwood Shores, Calif."

Automotive News, April 1, 2009 Wagoner Gets Pension, but That's All "'They're all out of the money and worthless,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation research firm. 'They represented a significant part of his pay package over the years.' Equilar found that in Wagoner's 17 years as a senior executive, he earned about $9 million by exercising stock options."

SHRM Magazine, April 1, 2009 Closing the Books on 2008 "Last year, chief executive officers of at least 32 publicly traded companies took the symbolic salary of a dollar, according to Equilar Inc., a research company in Redwood Shores, Calif. Others accepted steep reductions."

The Washington Post, March 31, 2009 Obama Is Stern With Automakers "While the automaker was not contractually obligated to pay Wagoner a severance before it received the loans, the board could have voted to pay him a severance of up to about $17.1 million, according to an analysis by Equilar, an information services company specializing in executive compensation."

The New York Times, March 30, 2009 President Gives a Short Lifeline to Carmakers "Mr. Wagoner will not receive a severance payment but instead will get a pension and other benefits worth about $23 million, to be paid in installments over the rest of his life, according to Equilar, a compensation consulting firm."

ABC News, March 30, 2009 GM's Rick Wagoner Drives Away with $20M Retirement "Wagoner was promoted to several positions within the company, including managerial roles in Europe and South America, before being named CEO in 2000. Wagoner received compensation topping $63 million during his tenure as a GM executive from 1992 through 2008, according to an analysis of company data by compensation analysts Equilar, Inc."

Associated Press, March 30, 2009 Wagoner Leaving GM with Compensation Worth $23M "'From the perspective of the average person, most of these payouts are going to seem like a lot of money,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., an information services firm that specializes in researching executive compensation. 'But from the perspective of executive pensions, there have been other cases where there's a lot more money involved.'"

BNET, March 30, 2009 Wyeth CEO Got 69% Pay Raise "Wyeth's top five executives — including Poussot — will also share a jackpot $64 million change-of-control bonus for saying yes to the Pfizer acquisition. The total change-in-control bonus, including stocks, was previously estimated at $75 million, according to compensation analyst Equilar."

InvestmentNews, March 29, 2009 Planning Perks for Top Execs Are on the Chopping Block "In fact, CEOs at Fortune 100 companies collectively received just under $1 million in financial planning perks in 2007, according to data the compensation research firm Equilar Inc. of Redwood Shores, Calif., culled from 2008 proxy filings for InvestmentNews."

The New York Post, March 29, 2009 Sordid Affairs In and Out of the Boardroom "And hostile investors will have plenty of ammunition. While the S&P 500 fell by more than 38 percent last year, CEO compensation was cut by only half as much, an average of 19 percent, according to preliminary estimates from Equilar, the expert on everything to do with executive pay."

The Commercial Appeal, March 28, 2009 Smith & Nephew Wary of Recession "The company plans to pay CEO David Illingworth a salary of 700,000 pounds, or about $1 million, in 2009. He's also eligible for a bonus of up to $1.5 million, plus stock-based compensation. Illingworth's 2008 compensation package was worth about $5.3 million, according to Equilar Inc., a firm that tracks executive compensation."

The Commercial Appeal, March 28, 2009 GTx Sweetens Pay for Top Execs, Cites Progress Toward Goals "The SEC filing said consulting firm Equilar Inc., performed a similar analysis and found that GTx's salaries for some other executives was above the peer average. This reflected 'the decision of the committee to pay competitive compensation consistent with the important roles these individuals have at GTx.'"

The New York Times, March 26, 2009 Stock Options Are Adjusted After Many Share Prices Fall "At least 19 of these companies, ranging from giants like Citigroup to regional players like SunTrust Banks of Atlanta, have promised to pay certain executives bonuses just for staying in their jobs, according to an analysis conducted for The New York Times by Equilar, a compensation research firm."

The Epoch Times, March 26, 2009 Executive Compensation Becoming PR Nightmare "By the end of 2008, over 64 percent of Fortune 100 companies had an executive compensation clawback policy that included payback of bonuses when financial statements are restated or when unethical behavior is discovered, according to Equilar, Inc., a research firm based in Redwood Shores, Calif."

The Deal.com, March 26, 2009 Citi Awards AIG-sized Bonuses Too "Outside of the AIG bonuses, Equilar found that of the 75 biggest bailout beneficiaries Citigroup paid out the most in bonuses, estimating the New York-based bank awarded about $80 million in stock-and-cash bonuses over the last 15 months payable in the future."

The New York Times, March 25, 2009 Paid Handsomely to Stay "At least 19 of these companies, ranging from giants like Citigroup to regional players like SunTrust Banks of Atlanta, have promised to pay certain executives bonuses just for staying in their jobs, according to an analysis conducted for The New York Times by Equilar, a compensation research firm."

paidContent.org, March 25, 2009 Saying No To A Bonus: Google's Kordestani Declines His Award "But Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a research manager at Equilar Inc., a Redwood Shores, Calif., company that specializes in executive compensation, said an increasing number of executives at big tech companies were forgoing bonuses as the economy weakens."

The Hill, March 24, 2009 Salary Reform, Recapitalization of Banks Critical "Equilar, a compensation research firm, conducted a survey last year of 200 companies with revenue of at least $6.5 billion. Equilar found that the CEOs of the 10 largest financial services firms were awarded a combined total of $320 million, even though their firms reported mortgage-related losses that totaled $55 billion and wiped out more than $200 billion in shareholder value."

The Chicago Tribune, March 24, 2009 Stock Option Swaps Sought by Companies "Over the past 15 months, about 115 companies have proposed exchanging their employee stock options, according to Equilar Inc., a financial research firm. The practice can be controversial among big shareholders, which might see the value of their holdings diluted."

Newsday, March 24, 2009 15 of 20 Top AIG Employees Agree to Return Bonuses "The recovery of AIG bonuses is a unique situation, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a research manager at Equilar Inc., an information services firm in Redwood Shores, Calif. A growing number of companies have instituted claw-back or compensation recoupment policies, he noted, but those terms typically apply to cases involving fraud or a financial restatement."

Investors Business Daily, March 23, 2009 Executive Pay Isn't That Excessive And Some CEOs Really Deserve It "A recent study by Equilar (the executive compensation research firm), as reported in Financial Week, points out that the median value of performance-based bonuses for CEOs of large public firms declined 18.6% in 2007 — from $949,249 to $772,717."

Bloomberg, March 23, 2009 S&P Sued by Ex-Ratings Manager for Targeting Women in Job Cuts "The female executive team that once led S&P's ratings business was an exception in an industry where women occupy about 8 percent of the best-paid jobs at financial companies with more than $1 billion in assets, according to a study for Bloomberg by Equilar Inc., a Redwood Shores, California-based pay consultant."

Bloomberg, March 23, 2009 Stock-Option Repricing Lets Employees Sidestep Crash "Since the start of 2008, at least 97 companies have proposed or completed plans that would exchange underwater stock options, according to research firm Equilar Inc. The companies swap options for ones with lower prices, increasing employees' chances of making a profit."

Agenda Magazine, March 23, 2009 Gap Cuts Director Compensation, Board Size "In a move to manage costs, Gap will reduce directors' compensation and trim its board to 10 members from 13, the clothing retailer has announced. So Reuters reports. The company says directors Penelope Hughes and Howard Behar will not to stand for board reelection at this year's shareholder meeting." (See graphic for Equilar data.)

The Tennessean, March 22, 2009 Nashville Banks' Execs Get Millions "'It could set a bad precedent if all contracts are suddenly voided by an outside group, let's say the government,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., which advises companies on compensation agreements."

The Boston Globe, March 21, 2009 Financial Services Executives Reap Big Retirement Benefits "Equilar, a California compensation consulting company, said the average additional value in 2008 to a chief executive's retirement plan was $1.23 million, based on its review of those firms that have filed proxy statements. In 2007, the average was $1.38 million."

The Charlotte Observer, March 20, 2009 Banks Rethink Their Pay Structure "'Deferred gratification' is the objective in such changes, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar , an information services firm that specializes in executive compensation. 'It's not just about shifting from bonuses to salaries,' he added."

Newsday, March 20, 2009 Tax Rules Make Bonuses Worthwhile to Companies "The $165 million in retention bonuses AIG gave out last week 'falls outside the standard annual pay package,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., an executive compensation research firm in Redwood City, Calif."

Maryland Gazette, March 20, 2009 Bonuses Rolling for Many CEOs "Such bonus increases among Maryland executives contrast with a national study by Redwood Shores, Calif., compensation research firm Equilar that found that the median bonus for CEOs of 173 large U.S. companies fell 19 percent in fiscal 2008 from 2007. An increasing number of companies gave CEOs no bonus last year, the report found."

The Washington Post, March 19, 2009 In Slump, Firms Move Performance Goalposts "Some compensation consultants said these examples go against efforts other companies are making to rein in executive pay packages after decades of increases. Executives at least 33 companies have agreed to forfeit bonuses from last year or 2009, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm."

Dow Jones Newswires, March 18, 2009 Gap To Shrink Board; Pay Of Directors, CEO To Fall 15% "Since the year began, 43 companies have said they lowered the compensation of outside directors, according to an analysis of regulatory filings through March 12 for The Wall Street Journal by pay trackers Equilar Inc. That compares with four businesses during the same period last year."

Bloomberg, March 18, 2009 AIG Bonuses Punish Mere Mortals Paying Geniuses "'This is a case where outside pressure will probably force some concessions,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation research firm based in Redwood Shores, California. 'The contracts themselves may not be changed,' he says, but 'the executives may be forced to "voluntarily" give them up.'"

BusinessWeek, March 17, 2009 Shareholder Value: Time for a Longer View? "There are signs in the current proxy season that companies are relying less on total shareholder returns or quarterly earnings per share as part of how they determine executive bonuses, says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a spokesman for Equilar, a Redwood Shores (Calif.)-based information services firm specializing in executive compensation."

Compliance Week, March 17, 2009 Crafting Proxy Language for the Say-on-Pay Vote "According to compensation research firm Equilar, 54 companies filed proxies with say-on-pay proposals from Feb. 17 (when the requirement went into effect) through March 9. Most of those companies had little time to prepare and even less guidance to work with, since the mandate was sprung upon them as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law in February."

Compliance Week, March 17, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in Feb. "According to Equilar, several grants of 'premium-priced' options were awarded in February, an increasingly common compensation practice. Awards are considered premium-priced when the exercise price of the grant is higher than the stock price on the grant date."

Bureau of National Affairs, March 17, 2009 Companies Scale Back CEO Bonus Pay "The survey by Equilar Inc., a California-based executive compensation information services firm, looked at 173 companies with annual revenues of at least $1 billion and CEOs in place for at least three years. The median total bonus payouts for CEOs fell by 19.1 percent from 2007 to 2008, declining from $1.1 million to $889,715, according to Equilar."

The Australian, March 17, 2009 More US Directors Agree to Pay Cuts, WSJ Survey Says "For all of last year, 43 companies reduced director pay, up from seven in 2007.The findings are in a survey conducted by salary-trackers Equilar for The Wall Street Journal. Equilar research manager Alexander Cwirko-Godycki said, 'A clear trend is emerging.'"

The New York Times Deal Book, March 16, 2009 Pandit Gets Pay Package Valued at $38.2 Million "Under government pressure, Citigroup's total bonus pool for 2008 was cut in half, to about $4 billion. Still, several of Citigroup's top executives received large payouts, according to an analysis by Equilar, an executive compensation firm."

The New York Times, March 16, 2009 Citi Chief's Compensation Was $38.2 Million for 2008 "The value of his stock and option awards has since fallen sharply with the price of Citigroup's shares and, adjusted for Friday's closing price of $1.78, it would be worth about $2.9 million, according to Equilar, an executive compensation firm."

The Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2009 More Directors Cutting Own Pay "Since the year began, 43 concerns have disclosed lowering the compensation of outside directors, according to an analysis of regulatory filings through March 12 for The Wall Street Journal by pay trackers Equilar Inc. That compares with four businesses during the same period last year."

Agenda Magazine, March 16, 2009 Boards Weigh Timing, Structure of Option Exchanges "There are 28 programs that have been proposed in the first quarter of 2009, up from only seven in the same period for 2008, according to Equilar. Similarly, while 14 programs were completed in Q4 2008, 24 programs have been completed in Q1 2009."

The Seattle Times, March 13, 2009 Boeing's McNerney Was Paid $14.8 Million in 2008 "The pay for top company executives was detailed in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The figures above were calculated from the Boeing data by Equilar, an independent advisory firm specializing in executive compensation."

Associated Press, March 13, 2009 Companies Reset Stock Options "Almost 100 companies have made changes or are contemplating them, according to the executive compensation research firm Equilar Inc. Some like Google Inc. are repricing options so that they are now more in line with today's depressed marketplace, while others such as SunTrust Banks Inc. are doling out massive new grants at lower prices."

Portfolio Magazine, March 11, 2009 Executive Pay...Falls? "But the preliminary look at 173 companies with at least $1 billion in revenues makes a good case that the trend is downward, according to the study by Equilar Inc., the executive-compensation research firm. 'If you look at the figures for the end of 2008, the bottom just drops out,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar."

The San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2009 AT&T Spending Billions, and That Means Jobs "Despite what you might think, chief executives aren't commanding what they once did. In fact, their bonuses are drifting down below the $1 million mark. According to Equilar, the Redwood City executive compensation research firm, bonus payouts for CEOs dropped on average almost 20 percent, from $1,100,000 in 2007 to $889,715 last year."

Harvard Business Publishing, March 10, 2009 Google's Bad Options "About two months into 2009, and 45 firms have options exchanges or other repricing programs, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm. Twenty-one of the 45 will complete them in the first quarter; the other 24 are subject to shareholder approval."

Huffington Post, March 9, 2009 CEO Bonuses Are Falling Fast "The median total bonus pay for chiefs of 173 large U.S. companies fell 19.1 percent in fiscal 2008 from a year earlier, dropping to $889,715 from $1.1 million, according to new data from compensation research firm Equilar Inc to be released formally on Tuesday."

Reuters, March 9, 2009 CEO Bonuses Are Falling Fast: Study "The median total bonus pay for chiefs of 173 large U.S. companies fell 19.1 percent in fiscal 2008 from a year earlier, dropping to $889,715 from $1.1 million, according to new data from compensation research firm Equilar Inc. to be released formally on Tuesday."

Agenda Magazine, March 9, 2009 Exec Pay Problems Acute for Tech Boards "Equilar's 2009 Executive Compensation Outlook warns, 'Not only will this practice adversely affect carefully managed burn rates, but it also might lay the groundwork for unintended windfalls for executives when conditions improve.'"

The Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2009 Activists Push for Lid on 'Golden Coffin' Death Benefits "A recent study of 93 big concerns by pay tracker Equilar Inc. found that 17% provided severance-style death benefits for their chief executives in 2006. Companies defend the practice as an appropriate way to take care of an executive's family after an unexpected death."

World at Work Journal, March 9, 2009 Optimizing Short-Term Incentive Plan Performance "The current credit crisis is tremendously impacting the health of the global economy. Highly lever-aged companies are facing an extremely difficult operating environment. Even companies with moderate to low leverage and good credit ratings are finding it difficult to secure credit simply because lenders are unwilling to lend. (See tables for Equilar data.)"

Daily Finance, March 8, 2009 CEO Stock Options Drowning in Red Ink "According to The Washington Post, which examined figures from an executive compensation firm, 'As of late last year, nearly 99 percent of Fortune 500 chief executives held options with strike prices above the current stock price, Equilar said. Such options are under water.'"

Business Insider, March 8, 2009 Fortune 500 CEOs Options Drowning Fast "Small wonder then, that almost 100 companies have either repriced or plan to reprice options since the beginning of last year, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm. As one might imagine, that's a sharp jump from before the economy was a total train wreck."

The Washington Post, March 7, 2009 Underwater Stock Options Get a Lifeline From Firms "As of late last year, nearly 99 percent of Fortune 500 chief executives held options with strike prices above the current stock price, Equilar said. Such options are 'under water.' As a result, Equilar expects 21 companies will implement exchange or repricing programs in the first quarter of 2009, compared with only seven during the same period last year."

Red Orbit, March 7, 2009 Stock Market Slump Could Enrich Google Workers "Executive compensation specialist Equilar Inc. said 21 companies are expected to complete stock option re-pricings during the first three months of this year, up from seven companies in the first quarter of 2008."

San Jose Mercury News, March 6, 2009 Google Reprices Workers' Underwater Stock Options "Programs to reprice stock options were popular following the dot-com bust and have recently come back into vogue, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a research manager at Equilar, a Bay Area company specializing in information services related to compensation."

Associated Press, March 6, 2009 Stock Market Slump Could Enrich Google Workers "Other major employers repricing stock options include Starbucks Corp., Motorola Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. All told, 21 companies are expected to complete stock option repricings during the first three months of this year, up from seven companies in the first quarter of 2008, according to executive compensation specialist Equilar Inc."

The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2009 The Right Way to Determine Executive Pay "According to Equilar Inc., a leading compensation data and analysis firm, roughly 70% of total compensation for S&P 500 CEOs was in the form of long-term incentives, typically earned over three years or more and predominantly tied to shareholder return."

CFO Magazine, March 5, 2009 Is Option Repricing Making a Comeback? "That leaves most executives holding worthless options. According to the executive compensation research firm Equilar, as of mid-February 71.6 percent of Fortune 500 companies had outstanding options with an average exercise price above their market price. Since the first quarter of 2008, 35 companies have repriced options."

The Flint Journal, March 5, 2009 Delphi Cost Reductions Not Balanced With Cuts from the Top "I wonder if future actions will include sacrifices by executives. According to Equilar.com, Delphi Chief Executive Officer Rodney O'Neil was paid $3.7 million in salary and bonus in 2007 for guiding Delphi through the second year of bankruptcy."

CNBC, March 2, 2009 Let the Options Re-Pricing Stimulus Begin "Compensation expert Equilar reports that on average, the average CEO options award among the top 150 Silicon Valley companies declined from $17.5 million to $6.3 million since the start of last year."

CNBC, March 2, 2009 Options Mess in the Tech Sector (Video) "Compensation expert Equilar put together some key metrics for us. Among Silicon Valley's 150 largest companies, the average CEO option value declined from $17.5 million to $6.3 million over just the past year."

Treasury & Risk Magazine, March 2, 2009 Executive Pay Scrutiny Spreads "The $787 billion package also serves as a warning to all companies, especially their board compensation committees, to re-evaluate their own executive pay structures. 'They would be smart to behave like they, too, are under the gun,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., a Redwood Shore, Calif.-based compensation research firm."

Agenda Magazine, March 2, 2009 Starbucks Squeezes Stock Plan After Talks with RiskMetrics "Starbucks and other companies announcing plans to address underwater employee stock options are coming up for criticism, Agenda has reported. More companies made option exchange or repricing offers in the first month of 2009 than throughout 2007, research firm Equilar told the Los Angeles Times."

Corporate Board Member Magazine, March 1, 2009 Are These Great Times to Reprice Stock Options or What? "Some 40 companies did just that in 2008, according to compensation consulting outfit Equilar Inc.-among them printer R.H. Donnelley Corp., casino operator MGM Mirage, homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc., and a bunch of high-tech companies in Silicon Valley."

Corporate Board Member Magazine, March 1, 2009 Other Ways to Go "Finally, 'doing nothing is also worth considering,' notes Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., a compensation consulting company. 'It depends, obviously, on how dire your situation may be. But just because the market is down and everyone around you is considering repricing their options doesn't mean you should do it too. Yours may not be that far underwater.'"

Corporate Board Member Magazine, March 1, 2009 Where Directors Missed Out on Repricing "These 10 high-tech companies are among those that excluded outside board members from stock-option repricing programs in 2008. Source: Equilar Inc."

Vanity Fair, March 1, 2009 Wall Street's $18.4 Billion Bonus "Except that with Goldman stock's huge drop—65 percent—how large would the top officers' 2008 bonuses, weighted to the stock, have been in any event? And does forsaking a bonus even matter when Blankfein alone had earned $210,169,732 in total compensation from 2003 to 2007, according to Equilar, a compensation-tracking firm?"

Compliance Week, February 24, 2009 Companies Awash in Underwater Stock Options "Equilar, a firm that tracks executive compensation data, says 99 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs held underwater options in November, and the situation improved only slightly through mid-February. The firm says only 40 companies took action in 2008 by exchanging underwater options for something else."

Directorship Magazine, February 23, 2009 Waxman Proposes to Clawback Exec Pay "Executives at seven major financial institutions that collapsed, were sold at distressed prices, or are now in deep to the taxpayer received $464 million in performance pay since 2005, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times by Equilar as reported by Gretchen Morgenson in her weekly business column."

The New York Times, February 21, 2009 After Huge Losses, a Move to Reclaim Executives' Pay "The seven companies highlighted in the Equilar study are not the only financial firms that turned in woeful results recently. Even companies that have managed to generate profits — Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are three examples — have received taxpayer aid. Executives at these companies, too, face shareholders angered by battered stock prices."

San Jose Mercury News, February 20, 2009 Tech Companies Turning to Pay Cuts to Lower Costs "More than 100 public companies in all industries have reported executive pay cuts since June, compared with just a handful in recent years, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, an executive compensation research firm in Redwood City. He said the largest number of those companies, about 40 percent, are in the tech sector."

The Daily Transcript, February 19, 2009 Money in the Morning "Bloomberg is reporting that CEO Mark Hurd is taking a 20 percent cut in pay and other executives will take a 10 to 15 percent shave. In addition, most other employees will also see their wages cut by 5 percent. A private study by Equilar found that 106 companies have reduced executive pay because of current conditions."

MSN, February 19, 2009 The Five Biggest Lies on Wall Street "Fuld was supposed to be a 'top talent'; Lehman had paid him more than $186.5 million in salary, bonuses and profits from stock options in the prior three years, according to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm. Yet by autumn, Lehman vanished, setting off the October 2008 market crash."

Forbes, February 19, 2009 Big Bonuses. Or Not? (Video) "Equilar pulled the executive compensation data for publicly traded companies with revenues over $1 billion for fiscal years ending in June through October 2008. For Technology companies over a billion in revenue, it looks like bonuses this year were actually down over 10%, but the actual payout levels were still over $1 million."

Bloomberg, February 18, 2009 Hewlett-Packard Cuts Pay as Silicon Valley Retrenches "Since June 2008, at least 106 companies have reduced their executives' pay, according to Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation firm in Redwood City, California. Out of 106 companies tracked, 39 percent are in the technology industry, making it the largest industry undertaking executive pay cuts."

Bloomberg, February 17, 2009 Citi Cost-Cutters Skip Offices, Staff for Ex-CEOs Prince, Reed "It's impossible to determine the cost of the free offices, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at pay consultant Equilar Inc. in Redwood Shores, California. Companies must list perks awarded to former executives when they depart, without estimating the value. Then the benefits don't appear in annual proxy filings that detail current executives' pay and benefits."

Compliance Week, February 17, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in Jan. "According to Equilar, several grants of 'premium-priced' options were awarded in December, an increasingly common compensation practice. Awards are considered premium-priced when the exercise price of the grant is higher than the stock price on the grant date."

Agenda Magazine, February 17, 2009 What New TARP Rules Mean for Succession Planning "'Internal candidates become more important in this environment,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for Equilar. They are paid less than external candidates on average, probably already have a big equity stake in the company, and are more loyal to the company than an outsider, he says."

The Indianapolis Star, February 16, 2009 'Say On Pay' Trend Awaits Vital Push From Congress "Just look at CEO pay at the biggest financial institutions — companies with assets over $10 billion — that have received federal TARP bailout money: In 2007, those CEOs received average total pay worth $11.07 million, according to data from Equilar, a California-based executive pay research firm."

Winston-Salem Journal, February 16, 2009 Excess Bonuses Can Be Retrieved "The decision by Reynolds' board, however, does place it in a small circle of large corporations that include all employees in its unearned-compensation policy. According to Equilar, just 18 percent of Fortune 100 companies applied their policy to all employees."

BusinessWeek, February 13, 2009 Congress Set to Curb Exec Pay "According to Equilar, which tracks executive compensation, companies with $10 billion or more in assets that took taxpayer money from TARP paid their CEO an average of $11 million last year, including an average cash bonus of $2.5 million."

The Miami Herald, February 13, 2009 Attaching Strings to Government Bailout "A study by a compensation research firm called Equilar, cited by The New York Times, reported that the CEOs of the 10 largest financial services in a survey of 200 companies with revenue of at least $6.5 billion received $320 million in 2008 — even though the companies had mortgage-related losses of $55 billion."

Reuters, February 13, 2009 Wall Street Appetite to Slim Down Perks Faces Test "In 2007, the cost of personal aircraft use averaged $113,820 for the chief executives of the 10 largest banks to later receive funds under the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), according to compensation research firm Equilar, citing data from proxy statements."

MSN, February 12, 2009 How to Fight Greedy CEOs "Yet 'golden coffins' are fairly common. In 2006, at least 17% of Fortune 100 companies said their CEOs were entitled to death benefits, according to Equilar an executive compensation research firm. Companies defend these deals as a kind of life insurance."

Reuters, February 11, 2009 No 2008 Bonuses for Bankers After Years of High Pay "Figures reflect total compensation, including base salary, bonuses, incentive plan payouts, exercise of stock options, the grant-date value of stock awards and other compensation. Data provided by Equilar, Inc, an information services firm specializing in executive compensation."

Bloomberg, February 11, 2009 Strip-Club Chief Is What Banks Afford With Obama Cap "Just 14 CEOs in the Fortune 1000 and five from the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index make under the $500,000 bar, according to Equilar Inc., which analyzes compensation data. Many of those are founders or major shareholders, such as Apple Inc.'s Steve Jobs, who gets a $1 annual salary and owns about $550 million in stock."

World at Work Journal, February 10, 2009 Leadership Succession Practices Take on Growing Importance "Another more recent study of the 1,500 largest U.S. companies, based on Equilar data, found that externally hired CEOs received 65% more pay than the median for internally promoted chief executives. Against this backdrop, market analysts, rating agencies and institutional investors are paying closer attention to leadership issues today."

Bureau of National Affairs, February 11, 2009 Pre-Bailout CEO Severance Pay Examined "Total severance pay for chief executive officers at large publicly traded companies topped $22 million on average, based on fiscal 2007 figures, according to a survey of exit pay practices released Feb. 10 by California-based Equilar Inc."

Portfolio Magazine, February 10, 2009 When It Pays to Lose Your Job "And that goes even when the CEOs at Fortune 250 companies walk out the door. More than 71 percent of such CEOs got an average $22.2 million severance package in fiscal year 2007, according to a study released today by Equilar, an information service specializing in executive compensation."

The Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2009 Rohm & Hass Beats Expectations "The contract calls for Dow to pay $78 a share, which would give the Rohm's largest shareholder, the Haas family, about $5 billion. If he leaves the company and sells his stock after the merger, Raj Gupta, Rohm's chief executive and chairman, would get more than $100 million, according to calculations by Equilar Inc., a compensation research company."

Agenda Magazine, February 9, 2009 Pharma/Health Boards Fear Government's new Role "Several health sector firms have canceled such equity awards that have little statistical chance of ever generating value. According to Equilar's 2009 Executive Comp Outlook, this allows those companies to immediately replenish share reserves under equity plans, accelerate future equity compensation charges and reduce overhang rates."

Agenda Magazine, February 9, 2009 Companies Face Criticism for Addressing Underwater Options "It's also a potential indication that other companies will follow Google's lead. The year 2009 could be 'the biggest year for options repricings and exchanges since the tech bubble burst in 2000-2001,' Equilar research manager Alexander Cwirko-Godycki is quoted as saying."

Patrol Magazine, February 9, 2009 A Good CEO is Hard to Find "The $500,000 figure seems to have been chosen arbitrarily by people who only believe they have enough knowledge to set a good unifying wage. According to compensation survey firm Equilar , the average salary for a C.E.O. receiving TARP money was $844,229. Would $600,000 have been too exorbitant a wage?"

BNET, February 9, 2009 As Layoffs Begin, Wyeth Execs Get $75 Million Severance Package "The top five executives at Wyeth will receive $75 million between them in the Pfizer acquisition, according to an analysis by Equilar, a corporate compensation consultancy. The jackpot payouts come as their plan calls for 19,500 of their colleagues to be made jobless, and the merger they negotiated was paid for with $22.5 billion in taxpayer money."

Atlanta Journal Constitution, February 8, 2009 Bailout Likely to Bring Down Pay "The Times quoted a report by Equilar, which analyzed 2008 proxy statements for banks on the Troubled Asset Relief Program. For example: Bank of America, which got $45 billion in government assistance, said last week that it will sell four aircraft, including a helicopter. Citigroup ended a consulting contract with former Chairman Sanford Weill that enabled him to use corporate jets, maintain a lavish office, and have a car and driver. Weill still gets a $1 million pension each year."

Associated Press, February 7, 2009 CEO Pay Cuts Not All That They Seem "Through the middle of January, 28 publicly traded companies announced that would reduce their executives' salaries, on top of 20 that did the same in December. That's up from two companies seen last June and four last July, according to Equilar Inc., an information services firm specializing in executive compensation."

The Indianapolis Star, February 7, 2009 Ex-Eli Lilly CEO Retired With $42M Nest Egg "In 2007, CEOs at Fortune 250 companies had an average of $20 million accumulated in their pensions and other company retirement plans, said Equilar, an executive compensation benchmarking company in Redwood Shores, Calif."

The Washington Post, February 6, 2009 Chrysler Chief Could Be First Test of Pay Limits "Chrysler officials declined to comment yesterday on how much Nardelli is making beyond his salary. In six years at Home Depot, Nardelli earned $125.57 million in annual salary, bonuses, stocks and other payments, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm. His massive severance package nearly doubled that yearly take-home pay."

Directorship Magazine, February 5, 2009 Survey Shows CEO Levels at Public Banks Receiving TARP Funds "The survey, conducted by Equilar an information services firm specializing in executive compensation, shows that for each asset group, total compensation is calculated as the sum of base salary, cash bonus payouts, the grant-date value of stock awards, the grant-date value of option awards and other compensation."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 5, 2009 Dow-Rohm Merger Standoff Takes A Heated Turn "Gupta's holdings are broken down this way: He directly owns 259,243 company shares, which would be worth $20.2 million at $78 a share. He owns 1.3 million exercisable stock options, according to the company's merger filing, which Equilar says are worth $50.8 million."

The New York Times, February 5, 2009 In Curbing Pay, Obama Seeks to Alter Corporate Culture "In 2007, the latest year that figures are available, the largest participants in the bailout program paid their chief executives an average compensation of $11 million, including salary, bonus and benefits. Of that amount, according to a review by Equilar, an executive compensation firm, only about $844,000 was cash salary."

The New York Times, February 5, 2009 Scrutiny of Bankers' Perks Will Grow, Too "The perks are widespread. Across the industry, banks and their boards have been spending handsomely on supplemental benefits to augment salaries and burnish their corporate image, according to an analysis prepared for The New York Times by the executive compensation firm Equilar."

The San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, 2009 Curtailing Executive's Pay? Good Luck With That "These payments, known as a tax gross-up, grossly inflate the cost of the excise tax to the company, says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager with Equilar, a compensation-data company. Many executives also receive tax gross-up payments on taxable perks such as personal use of the corporate jet, although public scrutiny is making this less common."

The Chicago Tribune, February 5, 2009 Obama Seeks Restrictions on Executive Pay "Yet executives' pay has been generous by Main Street standards. Banks with total assets of more than $10 billion paid their chief executives an average of $11.1 million in annual compensation, including $844,229 in base salary, $2.6 million in bonuses and $7.4 million in stock and equity, according to Equilar Inc., an information services firm specializing in executive compensation."

The Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2009 Pay Rules Seek a Focus on the Long Term "Yet executives' pay has been generous by Main Street standards. Banks with total assets of more than $10 billion paid their CEOs an average of $11.1 million in annual compensation, including $844,229 in base salary, $2.6 million in bonuses and $7.4 million in stock and equity, according to Equilar, an information services firm specializing in executive compensation."

The South Florida Sun Sentinel, February 5, 2009 Obama Wants Pay Caps for Bailout Firm's Execs "Banks with total assets of more than $10 billion paid their chief executives an average of $11.1 million in annual compensation, including $844,229 in base salary, $2.6 million in bonuses and $7.4 million in stock and equity, according to Equilar Inc., an information services firm specializing in executive compensation."

CNBC, February 4, 2009 The Price of Exec Pay Caps (Video) Debating whether President Obama's move to cap the pay of executives who receive TARP money is a good idea, with Peter Cohan, of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, and Bob Profusek, of Jones Day. See graphics for Equilar data.

Associated Press, February 4, 2009 Banks Could Still Find Wiggle Room in Pay Caps "'We've always been a society where extraordinary work led to extraordinary payouts,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., an executive compensation research firm. For many on Wall Street, the idea of capping pay is 'a very foreign concept,' Cwirko-Godycki said."

Reuters, February 4, 2009 Lifting the Lid-Wall St pay curbs resound across Corporate USA "'We have seen a big increase in companies voluntarily reducing their base salaries' for executives, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at executive compensation data tracker Equilar Inc. 'From the middle of June until now, every single month you see more and more companies moving in that direction.'"

BusinessWeek, February 4, 2009 Executive Pay: Will The Big Bucks Stop Here? "According to Equilar, which tracks executive compensation, companies with $10 billion or more in assets that took taxpayer money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) paid their CEO an average of $11 million last year, including an average cash bonus of $2.5 million. By contrast, Obama is capping pay at $500,000, with no short-term bonus."

BusinessWeek, February 4, 2009 CEO Pay: What Role Will Perception Play? "How does that $500,000 salary cap compare to what CEOs of public banks receiving TARP made recently? Equilar, a research firm specializing in executive compensation, ran the numbers for fiscal year 2007, the last year for which a full set of proxy statements are available."

CNN Money, February 4, 2009 CEO Pay Cuts: Not Just for Banks "Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager for executive compensation research firm Equilar, said that the U.S. public, not just corporate America, has been reluctant to accept anything that smacks of pay caps in the past. But he said that the mood is now changing. 'In this case, it's the first time it's palatable to most people.'"

Fortune Magazine, February 4, 2009 Obama Talks Tough on CEO Pay "But BofA is certainly not the only bank facing criticism of excessive salaries and bonuses. Compensation survey firm Equilar found that TARP recipients with at least $10 billion in assets paid their CEOs $844,229 in salary, on average, and $2.5 million in cash bonuses for 2007, the latest period for which data are available. Total CEO pay in the survey group averaged $11.1 million, the firm said."

The Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2009 Obama's Salary Cap Could Mean Huge Pay Cut for Top Executives "In addition to salary, chief executives also received an average cash bonus of more than $2.5 million, benefits and perquisites of $292,000 and average equity awards of almost $7.5 million, Equilar said. At mid-sized institutions, those with assets between $1 billion and $9.9 billion, chief executives had an average base pay of $397,162 in 2007. But other compensation brought them to $858,754, still over today's limit."

The New York Times, February 4, 2009 Obama to Impose Salary Caps on Executives at Bailed-out Firms "According to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm, Kenneth D. Lewis, the chief executive of Bank of America, made more than $20 million in 2007. Of that, $5.75 million was in salary and bonuses. Vikram S. Pandit, who became chief executive of Citigroup in December 2007 and previously held other senior positions at the bank, made $3.1 million."

Salem News, February 4, 2009 Obama Will Cap Nation's Fattest Executive Salaries Fueled by Bailout "The Times reports that the average base pay was $844,229, which is notably higher that the $500,000 cap announced by Obama. Those same top executives reportedly received average cash bonuses of more than $2.5 million, benefits and perquisites of $292,000 and average equity awards of almost $7.5 million, according to Equilar."

Poynter Online, February 4, 2009 Tips for Reporting on Executive Pay "There are various ways to look up executive pay figures for businesses in your area. Equilar, an information services firm, has a quick and easy to use CEO compensation finder on its Web site. It also provides background information for journalists."

The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2009 Market Leaves Firms Running Out of Stock Options "Stock squeezes are common at companies whose shares have dropped 50% or more over the past year. Based on last year's results, that would cover nearly one-third of the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and dozens of smaller companies. Compensation data-tracker Equilar Inc. is receiving more research requests related to equity-grant practices and stock-option exchanges."

Corporate Board Member Magazine, February 1, 2009 Here's One Way to Get a Grip on CEO Pay "In 2006, according to the most recent figures available from Equilar, which specializes in benchmarking executive compensation, the median multiple for CEOs of S&P 500 companies was 2.96 times the median pay packages for all other top managers identified in proxies, the so-called named executive officers, or NEOs."

The Delaware News Journal, February 1, 2009 BofA Decline Makes 'Mess' for Delaware "Take Bruce Hammonds, former head of card services in Wilmington. The value of the shares he held in September has plummeted, according to research by Equilar Inc., an independent research firm that surveys executive compensation. That month, Hammonds held 504,429 shares of stock directly and 197,323 shares indirectly. That was worth a combined $28.9 million in December 2007, Equilar said."

The Washington Times, February 1, 2009 Enough! Business Excesses Are Disgraceful "Many corporate executives outside the financial industry also enjoyed fat bonuses in 2008, even as the U.S. economy shed 2.6 million jobs. Equilar, the compensation research firm, found that the average performance-based bonuses for top executives, other than CEOs, at 132 companies with revenues above $1 billion increased by 14 percent, to $265,594, last fiscal year."

The Washington Post, January 31, 2009 Admiration Turns to Anger as Wall St. Bosses Feather Nests "'Most people would agree that some people should make more than others, whether that's based on skill level or education,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, an executive compensation analysis firm. 'It comes down to each individual's perception of what appropriate is. Is it $100,000? 10 million? 100 million?'"

The American Chronicle, January 30, 2009 Tax Solution to Wretched Greed "Even outside the financial sector, executives also received obscene bonuses in 2008 despite terrible performance. The compensation research firm Equilar, for example, reports that the average performance-based bonuses for top executives, other than the chief executive, at 132 companies with revenues of more than $1 billion increased by 14 percent, to an average of $265,594, in the 2008 fiscal year, in addition to high salaries."

The Scotsman, January 30, 2009 Obama Attacks 'Outrageous' $18bn Wall Street Bonuses "But it is not just banks that indulge in the benefits bonanza: Figures from the pay data firm Equilar reveal corporate excess across the US economy. Last year, despite falling profits, bonuses at 132 companies earning more than $1 billion a year actually increased by 14 per cent over the previous year, with the average reaching $265,594."

Dow Jones Newswires, January 29, 2009 With Options Underwater, The Reprice Is Right "'In 2008, we tracked a total of 50 examples of publicly-traded U.S. companies enacting option exchanges or repricings,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar Inc., an information services firm specializing in executive compensation. Most companies in 2008 that repriced options were small-cap names, principally in technology and health care. Two of the more prominent larger companies that repriced were Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM) and MGM Mirage (MGM)."

The New York Times, January 28, 2009 What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses "Outside the financial industry, many corporate executives received fatter bonuses in 2008, even as the economy lost 2.6 million jobs. According to data from Equilar, a compensation research firm, the average performance-based bonuses for top executives, other than the chief executive, at 132 companies with revenues of more than $1 billion increased by 14 percent, to $265,594, in the 2008 fiscal year."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 27, 2009 Mixed Response to Pfizer's Buying Wyeth "Equilar Inc., an information-services firm specializing in executive compensation, estimated that the merger, at a closing price of $50.19 per share, increases the amount of Wyeth chief executive Bernard Poussot's exercisable stock options from about $163,000 to $1.7 million. If Poussot leaves the company after the merger, as he is expected to, he likely could exercise additional options worth $2.2 million, Equilar said."

Compliance Week, January 27, 2009 Reversal of Fortunes: CEO Salaries Now Squeezed "At least 71 public companies have announced pay reductions for one or more top officers since last June, according to compensation research firm Equilar. That number is only a drop in the bucket of the thousands of public companies in the United States, but any decline in CEO compensation is impressive, considering how it has moved steadily (and stubbornly) upwards over the years."

The Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2009 Frugal Travel Takes a Back Seat in Davos "Firms across the world are axing travel costs to eke out every last profit margin, according to Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, an analyst at Equilar, a California-based firm that tracks executive compensation. And some executives that had planned on attending the forum have canceled, like John Thain, who was effectively fired last week as Merrill Lynch CEO."

The New York Times, January 26, 2009 The Titans Take It on the Chin "At the beginning of 2008, Vikram S. Pandit, the head of Citigroup, owned shares in his company that were worth $31 million, according to Equilar. Today, his stake is worth $3.7 million. Mr. Thain's stake in Merrill was worth $28.5 million a year ago; now it is worth $6.5 million."

The New York Times Deal Book, January 26, 2009 Timing of Wyeth Deal Cuts Payout to Top Executives "Coincidentally, the cutbacks in change-in-control compensation took effect on Jan. 1 of this year. Equilar, an information services company that tracks executive compensation, estimated that based on data through Dec. 31, 2007, the top executives at the time would receive 55 percent less money."

The Indianapolis Star, January 26, 2009 Cuts should be just the 1st change in CEO pay "From November through mid-January, 59 publicly traded companies across the nation announced salary reductions for executive officers, according to compensation research firm Equilar. That compares with just six companies in the three months before that."

Agenda Magazine, January 26, 2009 Recession Forces Long-Term Incentive Changes "'It is hard to grasp how companies will redesign their incentive plans,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar. 'There is very little guidance or definition in the legislation of what constitutes excessive risk.'"

The Canadian Press, January 24, 2009 Stock Options Return to Spotlight Amid Recent Controversies Over Investments "Since the stock markets took their tumble last year, some industry watchers have pondered when the backdating practice might see a resurgence in popularity. 'There is a lot of momentum building' to reprice stock options, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a research manager for executive compensation specialist Equilar. 'Everyone has been waiting for a big name to do it.'"

The Los Angeles Times, January 24, 2009 More Companies Offer to Reprice, Exchange 'Underwater' Options "'If the first month is any indication, we're probably going to see the biggest year for option repricings and exchanges since the tech bubble burst in 2000-2001,' said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, which tracks data on executive pay."

24/7 Wall Street, January 24, 2009 Stealing From Shareholders By Resetting Stock Options "The announcement by Google made a number of shareholders unhappy. The price at which they bought their stock will not be "reset". Individuals and institutions which picked up their holdings over the last 18 months almost certainly hold them at a loss. According to the AP, other companies may take the same path that Google has. 'There is a lot of momentum building' to reprice stock options, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a research manager for executive compensation specialist Equilar."

Sacramento Business Journal, January 23, 2009 All Eyes on Executive Compensation "Equilar, an executive compensation research firm in Redwood Shores, said 64 percent of Fortune 100 firms had clawback provisions in 2008, up from only 42 percent a year earlier. And while most clawback policies covered only cash bonuses a few years ago, they now include stock at 72 percent of companies surveyed."

Associated Press, January 23, 2009 Others Could Follow Google's Move to Reset Options "'There is a lot of momentum building' to reprice stock options, said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a research manager for executive compensation specialist Equilar. 'Everyone has been waiting for a big name to do it.' Google already has been joined by coffee chain Starbucks Corp., which unveiled a proposal to allow its employees to swap their existing stock options for new ones that will be more likely to put cash in their pockets."

Bloomberg, January 23, 2009 Boston Scientific Founders Bash Baby on Lehman Bets "Executives and directors at other U.S. companies were forced to sell shares as well, according to Equilar Inc., a Redwood Shores, California, company that tracks executive compensation. In October alone, margin calls fueled more than $1 billion in insider selling, Equilar said."

World at Work Journal, January 22, 2009 Bad Economy Affects Execs Too "Rank-and-file employees are not alone in facing the problem; executives are also feeling the pinch of a poor economy. Information services firm Equilar surveyed 125 of the Fortune 250 during the summer of 2008, and learned how these large companies are handling steep drops in stock prices with regard to their executives."

The Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2009 Google's 'One-to-One' Exchange Could Prompt Others to Follow "Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, a research manager at Equilar, said more than 60% of companies who have exchanged options have given employees less than one new option for every old, worthless option they exchange."

The New York Times, January 22, 2009 Google Beats Forecast Even as Its Profit Tapers "The compensation research firm Equilar said that stock option exchanges and plans to reset the price of stock options were becoming increasingly common, as companies try to insulate workers from the declining value of the stock market. In January, 25 American companies announced repricing or option swap plans, half as many as in all of 2008, Equilar said."

San Jose Mercury News, January 22, 2009 Google Offers to Exchange Employees' Underwater Options "Look for more option repricings from other companies in the future, if the results of a survey done by compensation-data supplier Equilar are any indication. The Foster City company tallied up the kinds of queries they received from clients who seek out data to help them prepare, and rationalize to shareholders, their compensation plans for the coming year. The number one topic of the customized research requests made by Equilar's clients: option exchanges, at 20.7 percent."

The New York Times Deal Book, January 22, 2009 In Parsons, Citi Gets Chairman and Diplomat "Mr. Bischoff was paid at least $7 million in cash and stock last year, according to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm, but Mr. Parsons said he would collect no pay as chairman."

The New York Times, January 21, 2009 Parsons Is Named Chairman of Citigroup "In an interview Wednesday at his office overlooking Central Park on the 11th floor of the Time Warner Center, a space he will vacate at the end of the month, Mr. Parsons said he viewed the chairmanship of Citigroup as a form of public service, an important role in not just stabilizing Citigroup but the financial system in general. Mr. Bischoff was paid at least $7 million in cash and stock last year, according to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm, but Mr. Parsons said he would collect no pay as chairman."

The Wall Street Journal, January 20, 2009 Firms Rethink Compensation Plans "In the year ended June 30, 2008, equity awards accounted for an average of 60% of total pay among Fortune 1000 CEOs who got such awards, according to Equilar, which recently issued its 2009 Executive Compensation Outlook report."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 20, 2009 Johnson Controls Shareholders to Vote on Curbing Death Benefit "Equilar, a compensation research firm based in Redwood, Calif., said last year that 17% of Fortune 100 companies provide death benefits equal to various multiples of salary upon executives' deaths."

Agenda Magazine, January 20, 2009 Incentivizing Execs in a Down Market "With market forces pummeling share prices, boards face a distinct challenge. More than 90% of CEOs at the largest companies hold underwater options, according to a recent Equilar Areport. In this environment how can a compensation committee effectively structure incentive-based pay to motivate and retain top executives?"

BusinessWeek, January 16, 2009 Making Wall Street Pay it Back "Even once-revered former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who, according to compensation data tracker Equilar, collected $118 million in pay between 1999 and 2006 while serving as director and senior counselor at Citigroup, has taken some heat."

NASPP Advisor, January 15, 2009 Across Our Desk, Underwater Options "The November 2008 issue of Equilar's newsletter, Executive Compensation Trends, revealed that 67.8% of the Fortune 500 had underwater stock options in October — more than twice the number at the end of the 2007 fiscal year."

Bureau of National Affairs, January 14, 2009 Companies Revise 2009 Salary Plans Due to Economic Turmoil "A January 2009 research report from Equilar Inc. has found that public company executives are taking pay cuts, either voluntarily or by company action, at an accelerating pace. Equilar, a California-based information services firm, found that in one week alone pay reductions were reported at FedEx, Motorola and Western Digital."

Compliance Week, January 13, 2009 Top Option Grants, Stock Awards in Dec. "Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar."

Chief Executive Magazine, January 12, 2009 Does CEO Pay Align With Performance? "Interestingly, a Business Week report revealed that there are at least 40 companies which have filed documents with the SEC in the last six months to cut the salaries of their senior executives. Twenty-six of those companies did so in November and December alone, said the BW report quoting Equilar, the Redwood Shores, CA based executive compensation research firm."

Agenda Magazine, January 12, 2009 Boards Reveal How Comp Plans Affect Risk "In a recent seminar, Equilar's Alex Cwirko-Godycki said each compensation committee will have to determine exactly what constitutes 'unnecessary' risk, human resources website HL.BLR.com reports. One company that has started to revamp its incentive plan is insurer Alleghany, according to Equilar. Alleghany 'is basically saying they are already setting incentive plan targets, using growth risk management goals that avoid incentivizing excessive risk that may be associated with higher goals,' Equilar reportedly says."

Agenda Magazine, January 12, 2009 The Exchange: Incentivizing Execs in a Down Market "With market forces pummeling share prices, boards face a distinct challenge. Over 90% of CEOs at the largest companies hold underwater options, according to a recent Equilar report. So how can a compensation committee effectively structure incentive-based pay to motivate and retain top executives in this environment?"

San Jose Mercury News, January 8, 2009 Even Execs Getting Pay Cuts "'One clear sign of the challenging economic environment we face is the decision by executives to take a pay cut,' according to a survey of executive pay practices released Thursday by Equilar, the Redwood City information services firm that mines SEC filings for compensation data."

Footnoted.org, January 7, 2009 Circor's Executive-level Bailout "Still, the 8K that Circor (CIR) filed yesterday, which was brought to our attention by the folks at Equilar still seems a bit surprising. In the filing, Circor says it will spend over $500K to bail out executive Christopher Celtruda, whose home in Corona, Ca. is seriously underwater."

Business & Legal Reports (BLR), January 5, 2009 How Government Bailout Requirements Affect Your Company "Researchers at Equilar, an independent provider of executive and director compensation data and research, say that other companies are also examining the compensation-related provisions of TARP, and some are changing policy in its wake. Speaking at a recent seminar, Equilar's Alex Cwirko-Godycki explained the four major ways the government's bailout of financial companies affects executive compensation."

CFO Magazine, January 1, 2009 No Lifeline for Underwater Options "'We're expecting to see a flood of these proposals come spring, but I'd be surprised if the total [approved] went to even half the levels of 2001-2003,' says Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at Equilar, which tracks options values and exchange programs."