NEW YORK - Norfolk Southern's CEO saw his total compensation fall 9 percent last year despite strong growth in the company's earnings and stock price, an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing shows.
Charles W. Moorman's performance-based cash bonus nearly doubled to $1.2 million, however.
Moorman's pay package was $8.3 million in 2010, compared with $9.1 million in 2009.
Comparatively, the CEO of CSX Corp. - Norfolk Southern's closest competitor - received total compensation of $7.6 million last year, up 9 percent from 2009.
Moorman's compensation fell mostly because of a decline in his stock and option awards, while his salary stayed the same at $950,000.
The value of the executive's stock awards on the day they were granted fell 20 percent to $3.9 million, from $4.9 million in 2009. The value of his 2010 option awards on the day they were granted dropped 17 percent to $2.1 million from a year earlier.
The value of his perks, which include use of company aircraft, payment of life insurance policies and contribution of charitable gifts, fell 14 percent to $124,818.
Norfolk Southern Corp. earned $1.5 billion last year, up 50 percent from 2009, as shipments of everything from cars to coal improved. Revenue rose to $9.52 billion from $7.8 billion in 2009.
This year, the company expects improving demand this year for everything it hauls, except forest products. The major Eastern railroad believes demand for lumber will continue to flounder if the housing market remains sluggish.
Norfolk Southern's stock price rose by about 20 percent last year and is up 6 percent so far in 2011. It closed Thursday at $67.75, up $1.07 for the session.
The AP compensation formula 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. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits.
