In the case of companies like XM, which haven't been public for five years, the report tracks performance since the IPO. XM's proxy shows that if you invested $100 in the stock when the company went public in October 1999, your investment had grown to $219 at the end of last year.
The SEC also dictates the simple disclosure of how much a $100 investment is worth after five years, which eliminates opportunities for obfuscation. That total return includes dividends, if there are any.
2003 compensation for XM executives Hugh Panero, top, and Gary Parsons, below, was relatively modest.
(Xm Satellite Radio)
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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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Lucrative Cash Package Came as Fairchild Reported $53.2 Million Loss (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)
_____Charts_____
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Top Compensation Packages
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Top Salaries
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Superlatives
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Trends
_____Industries_____
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Aerospace
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Biotechnology
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Information Technology
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Telecommunications
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_____Live Discussion_____
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Monday, 3 p.m. ET: Washington Post staff writer David Hilzenrath and editor Mike Flagg will be online to discuss the 2004 executive compensation survey.
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_____Previous Columns_____
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Education Stocks Offer a Lesson In Unfairness (The Washington Post, Aug 9, 2004)
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A Cold Summer For Biotech Stocks (The Washington Post, Aug 2, 2004)
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Forecasters Look For Hints of Election Results (The Washington Post, Jul 26, 2004)
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Penny-Stock Lawyer Nears Day of Reckoning (The Washington Post, Jul 19, 2004)
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Playing It Safe In a Sluggish Market (The Washington Post, Jul 12, 2004)
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More Washington Investing Columns
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Where you find that little table in the annual meeting notice often tells you something itself. When it's buried in the back, there's usually a reason.
SLM Corp. puts its stock performance table right at the top of its proxy, reminding shareholders how well their investment in the nation's largest student-loan provider has done before they get to the eye-popping pay of chief executive Albert L. Lord. Lord ranks 13th in cash pay in The Post's survey for last year at $3.25 million and second in total compensation with a $41.7 million package, including the estimated value of the options he got last year.
As the prominently placed performance table shows, a $100 investment in SLM stock five years ago had grown to $258.70 by the end of last year. But lately things haven't run so smoothly. Last year the stock underperformed the market badly. The Washington Post Bloomberg regional stock index -- a benchmark for companies based in the District, Maryland and Virginia -- was up 33 percent. SLM stock gained slightly less than 9 percent, from $34.62 to $37.68.
The five-year performance table is also good to Danaher Corp., a local holding company for a group of manufacturing companies and one of the region's 20 largest companies by sales.
A $100 investment in Danaher five years ago grew to almost $170. The value created for shareholders also helps explain why H. Lawrence Culp Jr., president and chief executive, took home $3.4 million in cash last year and was far and away the region's top earner with a $57.5 million compensation package. Much of that is a long-term incentive stock plan that can't be cashed in until 2010.
Last year wasn't bad, either. Danaher's market capitalization grew by roughly $4 billion last year to $14 billion as the result of a 40 percent gain in the stock of the low-profile company.
The five-year performance table, on the other hand, does not reflect well on the highly paid executives of Fannie Mae, the District's biggest business based on its $69 billion stock market value.
Fannie Mae Chairman Franklin D. Raines took home a little more than $5 million in cash last year and earned $23.7 million in total compensation, including $11.6 million in long-term compensation.
