NEW YORK — Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year — as did pay for chief executives.
The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive-pay research company.
That was up more than 6 percent from the previous year and is the second year in a row of increases. The figure is also the highest since the AP began tracking executive compensation in 2006.
David Simon, CEO of Simon Property, which operates malls around the country, is on track to be the highest-paid executive in the AP survey, at $137 million.
That was almost entirely in stock awards that could eventually be worth $132 million, some of which won’t be redeemable until 2019. The company said it wanted to make sure Simon wasn’t lured to another company.
Simon’s Colorado properties include Colorado Mills and Denver West Village in Lakewood, Mesa Mall in Grand Junction, and the Town Center at Aurora.
Companies trimmed cash bonuses but handed out more in stock awards. For shareholder activists who have long decried CEO pay as exorbitant, that was a victory of sorts.
That’s because the stock awards are being tied more often to company performance. In those instances, CEOs can’t cash in the shares right away: They have to meet goals first, like boosting profit to a certain level.
