Monsanto CEO's 2009 compensation slips to $12.7M

Monsanto Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Hugh Grant's compensation package slid about 3.5 percent to $12.7 million in 2009, from $13.1 million the previous year, according to a regulatory filing Monday.

Grant's pay cut came in a year when the world's biggest seed maker saw its stock price tumble more than 23 percent amid the global recession and lower profit.

According to a proxy statement the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Grant received a base salary of $1.4 million, stock options worth $9.7 million and a performance-related cash bonus of about $1.1 million. All other perks, including use of the company aircraft, deferred compensation, home security costs and club dues, amounted to $564,214.

The Associated Press executive compensation formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total pay package during the 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 on the date they were granted.

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

Monsanto's profit rose 4.2 percent to $2.1 billion, or $3.80 per share, during the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, on sales of $11.7 billion. In 2008, the company's profit had doubled from to $2 billion, or $3.62 per share.