The head of asset management firm Legg Mason Inc. received compensation valued at $3.6 million in fiscal 2009, down 64 percent from the year before, according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission document filed Monday, the Baltimore-based company disclosed that it paid Chairman, President and CEO Mark R. Fetting a base salary of $500,000 and a cash bonus of $950,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.
Fetting also received restricted stock and option awards valued at $2.1 million on the days they were granted.
Additionally, Fetting received perks valued by the company at $32,416, which included company contributions to his profit-sharing and 401(k) plans, dividends on unvested shares of restricted stock and insurance premiums.
In fiscal 2008, Fetting's pay package was valued at $10.1 million, the bulk of which was derived from stock and option awards having a value of $7.8 million on the days they were granted.
The Associated Press compensation formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.
Separate from his regular pay, Fetting also realized $988,023 on the exercise of stock options and the vesting of restricted stock awards in fiscal 2009.
Like other asset managers, Legg Mason has suffered from a decline in assets under management as clients withdrew cash from their accounts amid a volatile stock market.
Since the company had a net loss for the fiscal year, it did not pay its executives any bonuses under its executive incentive compensation plan. However, the compensation committee determined that since the loss resulted primarily from certain one-time charges it would pay out cash bonuses to certain executives.
For the full fiscal year, Legg Mason reported a loss of $1.95 billion, or $13.85 per share. The asset manager earned $267.6 million, or $1.86 per share, during the previous fiscal year.
The company also said it would reduce its quarterly dividend to 3 cents from 24 cents.
Legg Mason's stock dropped 71.6 percent during fiscal 2009, and is up 1.3 percent year to date.
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