By Shira Ovide
Salesforce.com Inc. CEO Marc Benioff's bonus rose 67% from a
year ago, to $2.82 million, during a year when the software
company's stock price fell 7%. The company also described an
unusual arrangement for its former CFO to stay on past his planned
retirement.
Salesforce disclosed the annual bonus awards for Mr. Benioff and
other senior executives on Wednesday in a Securities and Exchange
Commission filing for the year ended Jan. 31.
Salesforce typically releases its annual proxy statement in the
spring, including the directors' explanation of what they paid
executives and why. The filing Wednesday said the bonuses were
"based primarily on the achievement of specific corporate
performance goals as well as individual performance." Salesforce
usually bases executive bonuses on how well the company performs
compared with target levels of revenue, operating cash flow and
operating income excluding some items.
In the SEC filing, Salesforce also disclosed that Graham Smith,
the former chief financial officer who planned to retire this week,
instead will stay with the company as an adviser. He will continue
to earn the salary, target bonus, stock-award vesting and perks he
received as CFO.
A Salesforce spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Benioff's
compensation or why Mr. Smith was staying at the company or for how
long.
Mr. Smith announced in February 2014 his plan to retire after a
one-year transition period. His official retirement date was on
March 31, 2015. His replacement, Mark Hawkins, started on the job
August 1, 2014.
Salesforce had agreed to pay Mr. Smith a compensation package
that the company valued at $5.3 million for the year ended Jan. 31,
2014. His bonus for that year was $650,000, or 16% more than the
year earlier.
In the filing, Salesforce said Mr. Smith would stay at
Salesforce as an executive vice president, and he would advise Mr.
Benioff "on projects reasonably assigned to him by the CEO." Such
projects would include activities of Salesforce's charitable
foundation, according to the filing.
Write to Shira Ovide at shira.ovide@wsj.com
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