HP chief Whitman makes $15m as company suffers annual loss
HEWLETT Packard chief executive Meg Whitman took home $15.4m (£9.5m) in her first year in charge of the US technology company, filings have revealed.
The compensation, which came as HP suffered a net loss of $11.9bn in the year to November, was made up mainly in stock awards and options, but included a $1.7m bonus based on performance. Whitman’s base salary was just $1.
HP posted the loss due to two multi-billion dollar writedowns last year.
The Silicon Valley firm wrote down $8bn in August over its 2008 purchase of Electronic Data Systems, and then took an $8.8bn hit from its $11bn acquisition of British software firm Autonomy, which it attributed to accounting irregularities. Autonomy founder Mike Lynch has denied any accusation of wrongdoing.
Whitman – who became chief executive in 2011 shortly after the Autonomy deal – hit 70 per cent of her pay targets.