Private equity baron Henry Roberts Kravis of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) was awarded $30 million in salary and other compensation by the buyout firm in 2011, making him the first in a list of top paid CEOs at largest US-based financial companies.
In the ranking by Bloomberg Market magazine, he beat his cousin and KKR co-chief executive George Roberts, who earned $29.9 million from the buyout firm, according to the magazine.
Kravis and Roberts had founded KKR along with Jerome Kohlberg in 1976. Shares of KKR had slipped 5.4 per cent in 2011.
Though the revenues, profits as well as stock prices of big banks and brokerages plummeted in 2011, the compensation of fifty financial CEOs collectively rose 20.4 per cent in 2011, after a 26 per cent increase the previous year, according to the magazine.
The magazine ranked Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit, who was awarded $15 million in 2011, as the CEO who provided the least shareholder value. Pandit’s $15 million package is now being reconsidered after shareholders raised a hue and cry. The magazine has chosen Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s Warren Buffett as the CEO who provided most value to shareholders.
According to the magazine, 33 of the top 50 financial companies had negative share returns in 2011 fiscal year, which saw deal markets battered by a series of crises.
The Standard & Poor’s had in August 2011 downgraded the U.S credit rating to AA+ from AAA.
Bank of America Corp’s stock fell 58 per cent, but that didn’t prevent its CEO Brian Moynihan, No. 37 in the rankings, to take home $8.1 million in 2011. He had got $1.9 million a year ago.
As per SEC data, Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s chief executive Lloyd Blankfein took home $16.2 million, but the bank said it had give him only $12.4 million, though some part of that package is yet to be delivered. The company’s stock shed 45.6 per cent in 2011.
The magazine compiled the rankings based on data reported by the companies to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
