Tampa Bay area CEOs likely heaved a sigh of relief after picking up the Wall Street Journal's executive compensation study last week.
After all, this was one well-read survey where it's nice to be ignored.
The heads of several of the biggest public companies in the bay area, including Tech Data chief Steve Raymund and Outback Steakhouse chief Chris Sullivan, were not included.
CEOs of some other larger companies active in Florida were likewise absent. Wachovia and SunTrust, for instance, were both included but larger financial rival Bank of America was not. TECO Energy was listed but the larger Progress Energy was not.
The Journal said the 350 surveyed companies were major industrial and service companies that electronically filed their latest proxy statements by April 5.
The few bay area chieftains who were included came off in a good light. Jabil Circuit chief executive Tim Main and TECO CEO Robert Fagan were paid well below the average in their industries. Main's direct compensation of $958,000 was far shy of the industrials median of $2.5-million (though his potential compensation of $14.4-million from options exceeded the industry average of $9.6-million). Fagan had direct compensation of $1.5-million, compared with the utilities median of $3.1-million.
Among other Florida companies:
- Winn-Dixie chief Allen Rowland's direct compensation of $2.9-million came under the median of $3.7-million for "noncyclical" stocks.
- Darden Restaurants CEO Joe Lee had direct compensation of $3.8-million, exceeding the median of $3.6-million among fellow "cyclical" stock CEOs.
