Anders blog

Oracle's Ellison gets pay package worth $70M

NEW YORK – Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, one of the world's richest people, drew a pay package worth about $70 million during the company's most recent fiscal year.

That's down 17 percent from $84.5 million the year before, according to an Associated Press analysis of Oracle's securities filings.

The drop in overall compensation, including a smaller base salary and fewer stock options, came despite a better financial performance by the business software company. In fiscal 2010, Oracle made a profit of $6.1 billion, up 10 percent from the year before. Revenue climbed 15 percent to $26.8 billion.

Ellison's base salary came to $250,000, down from $1 million the year before.

But the company did boost his performance-based bonus to $6.5 million, up nearly 80 percent from $3.6 billion. The bonus last year was cut because the Oracle didn't meet internal earnings targets.

Ellison made less in stock options in the most recent year; about $61.9 million worth, down 21 percent from $78.4 million.

Other perks added up to $1.5 billion, most of it for security at Ellison's home, roughly in line with the prior year.

The Associated Press 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.