Skift Take
Whatever this raise means despite Expedia revenue performance, Wall Street isn't complaining much, the company stock rose 112 percent over 2012.
Expedia's logo of a soaring gold jet is an apt image for the pay of its CEO.
Among chief executives of Pacific Northwest companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue, Bellevue-based Expedia's Dara Khosrowshahi saw the biggest pay increase last year -- a 309 percent jump to $14.4 million.
According to Equilar, an executive compensation data firm, the 43-year-old's pay included a $3 million bonus, triple the previous year's amount; $9.5?million in stock and option awards, nine times what he got the previous year; and $895,000 in other perks. His salary stayed at $1 million.
The 2012 compensation package, click on the image below for full table:
Most Pacific Northwest CEOs didn't see such windfalls last year, perhaps a sign that say-on-pay votes by shareholders are chastening the companies' compensation committees.
Median total compensation of CEOs at 123 public companies headquartered in Washington, Oregon or Idaho was nearly $1.4 million, and the total for those in office for two years or longer was almost flat compared with 2011.
Those at the top of the pack may reflect shifts in the economy: In 2008, the region's three highest-paid CEOs led industrial or information-technology companies. Now for the first time in five years, the top three CEOs run consumer-brand empires -- Nike, Starbucks and Expedia.
Nike's Mark Parker was the Northwest's highest paid CEO in 2012: He received $35.2 million in total pay, up almost 220 percent from the previous year. Starbucks' Howard Schultz, who held the No. 1 spot for three straight years, slipped to second place, with $28.9 million in total pay, up about 80 percent from 2011, according to Equilar.
Reported figures on CEO pay don't automatically mean a CEO actually receives that pay. Even if a company grants a CEO thousands of shares in options and future stock grants, the CEO may never be able to cash in if the firm's stock price falls or he's fired.
Dendreon CEO John
