Tuesday, March 25, 2008

MEDIA

Katharine Weymouth's salary was raised to $500,000 in February when she was named publisher of The Washington Post newspaper and chief executive of Washington Post Media, according to a report The Post Co. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last year, as the newspaper's vice president for advertising, she received a salary of $220,000 and a bonus of $108,167.

Weymouth was among several executives named in yesterday's disclosure whose salaries exceeded the $400,000 base pay received by her uncle, Post Co. chairman and chief executive Donald E. Graham. Graham, one of the company's principal shareholders, has not accepted an increase in his salary in 17 years. His salary is significantly below the median for chief executives of peer companies, and the Post Co. does not use it to set the pay of other top executives, the SEC filing said.

District-based Fannie Mae said its mortgage-asset holdings grew at a 1 percent annual rate last month, ahead of regulatory changes aimed at boosting the slumping mortgage market. Problem loans rose to 1.06 percent in January, the highest in at least a decade, up from 0.98 percent in December and 0.66 percent a year earlier. Its portfolio expanded by $594 million in February, to $721.6 billion, after contracting at a 4.8 percent rate in January.

Sallie Mae of Reston named Michael E. Martin and Frank C. Puleo to its 15-member board. Martin, 52, is president of Brooklyn NY Holdings. Puleo, 62, was a partner at Millbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, where he advised on structured finance deals.

The company also disclosed that it paid Albert Lord $1.66 million last year, including pay for two weeks as chief executive.

American Capital Strategies said it plans to sell 8.7 million shares of its common stock to reduce debt and fund investments. The Bethesda-based firm is a business development company that invests from $5 million to $800 million each in affiliates throughout North America and Europe. American Capital has $19 billion under management.

Compiled from reports by Washington Post staff writers, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News.