Viacom has had a tough year and CEO Philippe Dauman's paycheck reflects it.
Dauman's total compensation for 2012 was $33.45 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, down 22% from $43.12 million in 2011 and $84.52 million in 2010. Dauman's salary was unchanged at $3.5 million, but his earnings from the company's non-equity incentive compensation plan fell by $9.5 million to $11.5 million.
Ratings for key Viacom networks, including Nickelodeon and MTV, have been down and ad revenues have shrunk as well.
Viacom COO Tom Dooley's pay fell as well. His total compensation was $26.3 million in 2012, down from $34.1 million.
In its documents, Viacom said that "our fiscal year 2012 results reflected both the global economic slowdown and ratings challenges at several of our cable television networks. In the face of this adversity, Viacom achieved operating income growth of 5% and growth in diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of 21%, each as compared to fiscal year 2011. Our free cash flow, which is one of the performance metrics we use under our Short-Term Incentive Plan (STIP'), was $2.381 billion and was above the mid-point of the performance range we established under the STIP for 2012."
The company added that "Dauman and Dooley continued to provide strategic leadership and management for our company. They and their senior executive teams executed on key operational goals such as enhancing our creative teams and directing significant investment in content creation, concluding favorable affiliation arrangements in both traditional and digital distribution, strengthening our international operations and focusing our motion picture operations, in each case while maintaining cost discipline and enhancing our operating leverage. They led the company in accessing capital markets on favorable terms, allowing the company to return $2.8 billion in capital to stockholders in the form of stock buybacks and to increase its dividend. Under their leadership, senior management continued to execute a company-wide leadership development initiative and foster a diverse and inclusive corporate culture."
Sumner Redstone, who holds a controlling interest in the media company, saw a small decline in his total compensation. He received $20.42 million in 2012, down from $21 million in 2011.
