Shareholders Safeguard Oracle's Ellison
How safe is
Oracle
(ORCL) - Get Oracle Corporation Report
CEO Larry Ellison in his Japanese-style mansion on the San Francisco peninsula? As safe as nearly a million dollars will buy.
Oracle shareholders forked out $922,000 in fiscal 2005 to pay for security measures in Ellison's home as mandated by the company's board, according to a regulatory filing.
Not only did Ellison's reimbursed expenses increase by 74% from a year earlier, his pay package, exclusive of options, swelled to $8.4 million, a 91% increase from fiscal 2004, according to executive compensation in the company's proxy statement filed Tuesday with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company explained Ellison's compensation as a result of "his execution of our plan to enhance investor value through, among other things, an increase in our profitability. Our GAAP net income increased 8% and non-GAAP net income increased 29% from fiscal year 2004 to fiscal year 2005. Our GAAP earnings per share increased 10% and non-GAAP earnings per share increased 31% from fiscal year 2004 to fiscal year 2005."
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During the same period -- the fiscal year ended May 31, 2005 -- Oracle shares appreciated 12%, while the
Nasdaq Composite
gained 4% and the Goldman Sachs Software Index was up 8%.
Oracle's four other top executives were hardly reduced to selling CDs on Wall Street in fiscal 2005. Co-President Safra Catz received a bonus of $4.9 million, up from $1.9 million the year before in addition to her $800,000 salary, which stayed flat.
Co-President Charles Phillips was rewarded with a bonus that increased tenfold to $2.8 million, and the company picked up $173,000 in commuting and lodging expenses. Keith Block, who heads North America Sales and Consulting, was also paid $800,000, and a bonus that swelled to $3.4 million from $849,000 in 2004.
Chairman Jeff Henley's salary slipped to $693,000, reflecting his decision to step down as CFO, but his bonus jumped to $2.9 million from $800,000.
Ellison was granted 2.5 million options to purchase common stock; Catz got 750,000; Block 500,000; and Phillips and Henley each received 750,000 options.
The database giant will hold its annual shareholder meeting Oct. 10.
