Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Rob Marcus received $34.6 million in total compensation in 2014, more than four times his take in 2013 and fueled mainly by big gains in stock awards.
Marcus, who spent most of last year preparing for a merger with Comcast that was ultimately thwarted by regulatory concerns, received a base salary of $1.5 million in 2014, a 50% increase from the $1 million he received in the prior year, according to a prixy sttaement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday. But the biggest gain was in stock awards -- $24.7 million in 2014, more than 10-times the $2.2 million he received in the previous year. Marcus also received $7.95 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation in 2014, more than twice the $2.7 million he received in 2013.
Chief financial officer Arthur Minson received nearly $13 million in total compensation for the year, more than double the $5.5 million he received in 2013.
While the termination of the Comcast merger caused some top executives to lose out – Marcus and Minson were expected to receive $80 million and $27 million in severance after the deal closed – TWC’s board of directors did make some changes to the 2014 compensation program designed to support shareholder alignment as well as motivate and retain talent as the merger wound through the approval process. Included in that plan were enhanced cash bonus opportunities based on performance and the advancement of certain annual equity awards into 2014.
In the proxy, TWC said the length approval process and the termination of the Comcast deal underscored the importance of the changes to the compensation plan.
“The company’s executive team remains in place and—as evidenced by the company’s 2014 operating and financial results—was intently focused on achieving the company’s short and long-term goals despite the uncertainty and challenges during the pendency of the transaction,” TWC said in the proxy. “In addition, the retention equity awards remain subject to their time-based vesting schedules and, consistent with its intent when the retention equity awards were made, the Compensation Committee made no new equity awards to the named executive officers in 2015.”
Chief operating officer Dinni Jain, who joined TWC in January, received total compensation of $17.98 million, including $12.1 million in stock awards.
Comcast terminated its planned $67 billion purchase of TWC on April 24, after it became clear to the company that it would not receive regulatory approval for the deal. Since then, TWC reported one of its strongest first quarters ever, adding 30,000 basic video subscribers, the first period of positive video growth for the company in about six years,
