Sigma-Aldrich CEO Got $4 Million In Compensation

By MARLEY SEAMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — Jai Nagarkatti, president and chief executive of biochemicals company Sigma-Aldrich Corp., received a compensation package worth $4 million in 2008, up 25 percent from a year ago, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed in a regulatory filing made late Wednesday.

Nagarkatti's salary for the year was $750,000, a 14 percent increase from 2007. His performance bonus decreased 19 percent to $356,625. The value of his stock and options on the dates they were granted climbed 41 percent to $2.7 million, but Sigma-Aldrich shares are well short of the options' exercise price of $52.76 per share.

The St. Louis company's profit grew 10 percent in 2008, reaching $341.5 million, or $2.65 per share. Revenue rose 8 percent, to $2.2 billion. However, the stock was hit hard after the company reported disappointing third-quarter results, and the economic crisis also put pressure on shares.

Sigma-Aldrich stock fell 29 percent in 2008, finishing the year at $38.86. In Friday afternoon trading, the stock slid 44 cents to $34.05.

The company said the value of Nagarkatti's other compensation, which includes payments to the company retirement plan and use of a company car, rose less than 1 percent, to about $196,200. Nagarkatti has been president and CEO of Sigma-Aldrich since Jan. 1, 2006.