Meredith CEO Compensation Valued At $3.9 Million

NEW YORK (AP) — Magazine publisher Meredith Corp. gave its top executive a compensation package valued at $3.9 million for fiscal 2009, down slightly from the year before, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed in a regulatory filing.

CEO Stephen M. Lacy earned a salary of $925,000, up 9 percent from 2008.

He received $850,000 in incentive-based bonus pay, a 60 percent increase from $531,250 a year earlier. Beginning in the 2009 fiscal year, Meredith revised its incentive-based pay guidelines to "increased the emphasis on business unit objectives and performance," according to the company's filing. The new guidelines peg bonuses to specific financial targets such as earnings per share and cash flow.

Meredith, which owns magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens as well as local TV stations, reported a loss of $107.1 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, as the industrywide drop in advertising revenue took its toll. But the company pointed to improving ad revenue at its magazines in the second half of the fiscal year compared with the first. In the six months ended in June, ad revenue dropped 12 percent year-over-year, compared with an 18 percent drop in the first six months. Online ad revenue was up 7 percent after dropping 14 percent in the first half.