CEO PAY IN A RECESSION: The average ºüÀêÊÓƵ CEO made roughly $7 million last year. With shareholders and workers suffering through a pandemic-induced recession, David Nicklaus and Jim Gallagher debate how much the big boss's pay should be reduced.
Ameren rewarded Chief Executive Warner Baxter last year with an 8% salary increase, above-target bonus and beefed-up stock award. Baxter's total compensation rose 3% to $10.06 million, the ºüÀêÊÓƵ electric utility disclosed in a filed last week.
The pay was for a year in which Ameren's earnings per share rose 4% and its share price climbed 2%.
Baxter's pay included a $1.3 million salary, $1.6 million bonus and stock valued at $5.5 million. He also benefited from a $1.3 million increase in pension value and perquisites that included tax and financial planning services and event tickets.
The executive bonus plan paid out at 110% of its target value. It could have paid 120% based on earnings and other results, but Ameren's board reduced it because of "safety results not yet in the top quartile" and to recognize the effect of COVID-19 on customers.
Sixty percent of the stock award is tied to Ameren's shareholder return over a three-year period. A similar award from 2018 paid out 70% more shares than the target amount and, combined with price appreciation, was worth $7.45 million to Baxter instead of the original estimate of $3.05 million.
Baxter earned 71 times as much as the median Ameren employee. Ameren calculated median pay of $142,604 for its 9,400-person workforce.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ area executive pay and compensation
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Ameren CEO Warner Baxter is photographed during an interview in his office on Wednesday April 29, 2015. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com