XM Satellite Execs Cash In

The top bananas at XM Satellite Radio (XMSR Quote) enjoyed major raises last year as the satellite operator's stock price zoomed skyward.

Chairman Gary Parsons received a salary and bonus of $750,000, a 50% rise from the $500,000 bonus he received as compensation one year earlier, according to the XM proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. President and CEO Hugh Panero received $824,000, up 18% from his salary and bonus in 2003.

Additionally, the men received stock option grants valued -- when they were made -- in the range of $1.2 million to $3 million for Panero and $1.8 million to $3.4 million for Parsons, depending on one's assumptions about XMSR's stock-price appreciation.

The options, which vest over three years, have an exercise price per share of $5.34. XMSR, which restructured its finances in early 2003, saw its stock rise from $2.69 to $26.29 over the course of the year, a nearly 10-fold increase.

XMSR's shares were trading at $27.28 Wednesday, down 21 cents.

Parsons and Panero have already received more options this year. Panero received options for 200,000 shares, with a strike price of $22, in February, compared to the 350,000 options he got last year. Parsons received a 250,000-option grant this year at the same strike price, down from the 400,000 options in his 2003 grant.

Neither of the men exercised any options last year; as of Dec. 31, Parsons had $7.5 million of unexercised, in-the-money options and Panero had $9.1 million worth.