The company added that "bonus targets for senior management have been approved by a strong majority of outside shareholders for each of the last three years."
And Fairchild's independent directors are reviewing "issues arising from" the court proceedings in France, including expenses the company paid on Steiner's behalf, Fairchild recently reported.
Fairchild's chairman and chief executive, Jeffrey J. Steiner, has headed the firm since 1985.
(Mitsu Yasukawa For The Washington Post)
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_____Compensation Report_____
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The Region's Highest-Paid Executives (The Washington Post, Aug 16, 2004)
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Pay for XM Executives Modest as Stock Recovered (The Washington Post, Aug 16, 2004)
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Board Members, Executives and Family Members Can Still Benefit (The Washington Post, Aug 16, 2004)
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Expense Issue Draws Mixed Views From Companies (The Washington Post, Aug 16, 2004)
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Survey Estimates Values of Options, Excludes Exercises (The Washington Post, Aug 16, 2004)
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The French court has ordered that part of Steiner's fine be withdrawn from the bond Fairchild posted for him, the company said in a recent filing.
Steiner, 67, who has headed Fairchild since 1985, and other executives declined to be interviewed, spokesman Howard Paster said. Through Paster, the firm invited The Post to submit written questions and then declined to answer most of them.
Steiner was among the dealmakers funded by Drexel Burnham Lambert during the 1980s reign of "junk bond" king Michael Milken. He is less vulnerable to shareholder pressure than most executives because, through stock ownership and majority voting power, his family controls Fairchild.
Steiner, a native of Austria, grew up in Turkey and headed subsidiaries of Texas Instruments in Latin America and Europe before embarking on a career buying and selling corporations.
Fairchild, once known for making airplanes, had left that business by the time Steiner gained control in 1989. Before the sale of the Fairchild Fasteners subsidiary in 2002, the company's main business was making nuts, bolts, screws, and rivets used in airplanes. Since then, Steiner has largely reinvented the company, moving into the sale of clothing, helmets and other accessories for motorcyclists. Among other businesses, the firm owns a shopping center in New York.
Under Steiner, Fairchild has employed three of his children in recent years.
Fairchild's board has seven members besides Steiner and his son Eric. Long-serving directors include former internal revenue commissioner Mortimer M. Caplin, 88, who is a senior member of the Caplin & Drysdale law firm, and Herbert S. Richey, 82, president of Richey Coal Co. and chairman of Fairchild's audit committee.
Caplin referred questions to the company's general counsel, who did not return calls. Richey declined to comment.
