Electronics giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) has been enjoying the benefits of the changes implemented by current CEO Meg Whitman, who has been focused on increasing the efficiency of the company. And now, the company has expressed its gratitude by deciding to increase the CEO's salary by $1.5 million.
HP's board has decided to increase Whitman's salary to $1.5 million from $1. The salary increase was included in filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the filing, the HP board members increased Whitman's salary to bring it up to the current salary standards for CEOs in companies similar in size and scope to HP. Whitman's new salary took effect Nov. 1.
In addition to implementing several successful cost-reduction solutions, the company's stock price has also been doing very well as of late. The past quarter alone, HP has announced that it made a total profit of $1.4 billion with revenues in excess of $29 billion, amounting to about 73 cents per share. These favorable circumstances may have prompted the board in increasing Whitman's salary.
When Whitman first took up the mantle of CEO in HP, she accepted a yearly salary of $1, which was the trend for a number of Silicon Valley CEOs at the time. In fact, other well-known CEOs such as Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and Carol Bartz have also accepted $1 paychecks at some point in their career. While Whitman's previous salary may be considered meagre compared to other CEOs serving in similar companies, Whitman has been enjoying a number of other benefits, such as a $1.7 million bonus payout in December last year. In addition to the bonus, Whitman was also awarded additional stock options.
