Range Resources CEO's Compensation Up 23 Percent

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 Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.

According to Range Resources' filing, the compensation committee benchmarks its executive pay practices against a group of companies that includes Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Forest Oil Corp. and Noble Energy Inc.

In 2008 the company's profit rose 50 percent to $346.2 million, or $2.22 per share, from $230.6 million, or $1.54 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 53 percent to $1.32 billion from $862.1 million.

The stock dropped 33 percent in 2008 to close the year at $24.29. In Monday trading, shares fell $1.26, or 2.8 percent, to close at $43.85.