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Equifax CEO Compensation Falls 12 Percent

The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The total compensation package for the chairman and chief executive of Equifax Inc. fell nearly 12 percent in 2008 from the year before to about $7.2 million, according to a regulatory filing.

Richard F. Smith, 49, was awarded a base salary of $1.5 million, an 8.7 percent increase over 2007. Smith also received a $582,000 bonus and a performance-related award of $1.2 million, which was about 17 percent less than the award a year ago.

The credit report service company's board cited Smith's "decisive leadership in an extraordinarily difficult economic environment" as justification for the awards. The company achieved above-market financial results in a difficult operating environment, the board said in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. Also cited were Smith's actions to cut costs and push new product initiatives.

Smith also received stock and option awards that were valued by the company at $3.9 million on the day they were granted. That amount was about 17 percent lower than the 2007 amount.

His other compensation totaled nearly $78,000, which included $12,000 for financial planning and tax services, nearly $4,000 for club dues, $1,400 for home security monitoring and $19,000 for insurance premiums.

The AP's total pay calculations include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company said due to economic conditions and financial market volatility, it has frozen base pay for executives and employees and deferred until April decisions about equity awards for executives.

In 2008, Equifax's earnings nearly matched those of the year before at $272.8 million, or $2.09 cents a share, from $272.7 million, or $2.02 per share the year before.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $1.94 billion.

The Atlanta, Ga.-based company's shares declined about 24 percent in 2008 to close the year at $26.52, after coming down from a 52-week high of $39.95 in early May.

Shareholders will vote at the annual meeting set for May 8 on whether to allow annual election of the board instead of the current three-year staggered terms. The change was proposed by a group of shareholders, who said annual board elections allow shareholders to hold board members more accountable.

Shares fell 5 cents to $20.70 in Wednesday trading.