If he makes good on his promise to boost Black & Decker Corp.'s stock price, Chief Executive Officer Nolan D. Archibald will have earned more each day in 1992 than the average Marylander earned all year.
That's one of many surprises revealed in new proxy statements, which for the first time require companies to tell stockholders exactly how much top executives are paid -- and how well the company's stock performed. And that information is fueling a growing debate: Are the executives worth the millions they receive?
In a survey of the 20 biggest public companies in Maryland that have released 1992 financial information under new reporting rules, The Sun found that the top executives' total compensation ranged from an estimated $8.7 million for Mr. Archibald to $427,000 for Waverly Inc. Chairman William Passano.
The average CEO in the group earned $1.6 million in 1992, slightly more than the national average, according to a survey of 350 CEOs by the Wall Street Journal, and 64 1/2 times the salary of the average Marylander.
That is reasonable, executives, directors and many compensation consultants say, noting that bonuses were tied to profits and other performance criteria.
For example, stock options, which made up about 83 percent of the value of Mr. Archibald's compensation package, will be worth nothing if the stock price doesn't rise.
(The estimated $7.2 million value of Mr. Archibald's options was derived using a standard formula for pricing options, which are ,, the right to buy stock in the future at a predetermined price.)
But a growing number of critics charge that CEO compensation has become too lavish in recent years, even as workers have been laid off and profits have suffered.
Some investors are trying to cap, or cut, executives' pay. And, because of one angry Silver Spring investor, Harry Katz, some of thefirst battles over paychecks will be fought in the annual meetings of Maryland companies such as GEICO Corp., MNC Financial Inc. and Marriott Corp.
Mr. Katz, a retired U.S. Patent Office attorney, doubts that a company president's job is tougher than the job of U.S. president, so he wants to cap CEO compensation at $300,000 -- 150 percent of President Clinton's salary.
"They've lived like kings," says Mr. Katz, whose proposal will be voted on at annual meetings of several local companies. Given the poor economy, the executives "should be glad to have a job for $300,000."
