C.R. Bard CEO Pay Increases 9 Percent In 2008

By MARLEY SEAMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — The chairman and chief executive of medical device maker C.R. Bard Inc. received a compensation package worth $10.5 million in 2008, up 9 percent from the previous year according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing made late Friday.

Timothy Ring's salary increased 5 percent to $992,000, from about $942,000 the year before. His performance-based cash bonus increased less than 1 percent to $1.4 million.

Ring also received stock and options valued at $6.9 million on the day they were awarded. He received $6.4 million in such awards the prior year. Ring's options currently have little value because they have an exercise price of $88.76, well about Friday's closing stock price of $74.94.

The value of his other compensation, including contributions to his retirement plan and use of Bard's corporate jet, increased approximately 3 percent to $940,000 from $909,000.

The Associated Press' compensation formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, 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 SEC, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.