When Devin Wenig ascended from the head of eBay’s Marketplaces unit to become the CEO of the company, he received a nice raise.
Wenig’s base salary jumped from $900,000 last year to an even $1 million when he took the top spot in July 2015. That came along with a healthy cash target incentive and a $2 million equity award, according to a company filing.
Taken all together, Wenig’s total compensation topped out at $14.5 million last year, up from nearly $10.5 million in 2014.
Scott Schenkel, who rose to chief financial officer last year, saw his annual compensation jump from $600,000 to $650,000, and netted an equity award of $4.6 million when the transition took effect in July.
Schenkel received total compensation last year of nearly $9.6 million.
eBay has also been replenishing its senior executive ranks over the past couple of years with new hires: 2014 saw the hiring of Stephen Fisher as senior vice president and chief technology officer, and the following year the company brought on Marie Oh Huber as SVP and general counsel and Harry “Hal” Lawton to head eBay North America. Each of those individuals received a sizable new-hire cash payment ranging from $2.1 million to $4.1 million, and Huber and Lawton received equity awards of $5 million and $6 million, respectively. Base salaries for those new hires range from $610,000 to $650,000.
In total, Fisher’s 2015 compensation was $7.2 million; Huber’s nearly $7.8 million; and Lawton’s more than $10.8 million.
Top brass departing the company also left on a high note. Former CEO and President John Donahoe netted $16.4 million last year, slightly more than half what he earned in 2014, his final full year at the helm of the company.
Bob Swan, the former senior vice president and chief financial officer, received $9.3 million in 2015.
Following the spinoff of PayPal, eBay’s Compensation Committee undertook a review of the company’s approach toward paying top executives, concluding that, indeed, the compensation program “continues to be appropriate to drive strategy, resonate culturally and align pay with performance.”
In determining each executive’s individual compensation range, the company said that it “evaluated each individual based on his or her leadership, competencies, innovation and both past and expected future contributions toward eBay’s financial, strategic and other priorities.”
In general terms, eBay explained that its executive compensation program aims to align salaries with the company’s business objectives and to promote shareholder value, and to attract and retain top talent in a competitive labor market.
To those ends, the company maintains a three-pronged compensation program that includes long-term equity, a yearly cash incentive and base salary.
eBay said that the annual cash incentives are pegged to the performance of the company in a given year, while the equity awards focus on the longer-term value of the company by expanding executives’ stock holdings.
eBay’s Compensation Committee has determined that three-quarters of the eBay Incentive Plan is to be based on the company’s finances in a given year, with the other 25 percent tied to the individual’s performance.
In 2015, Wenig netted a cash incentive award of $2.7 million. Cash awards for the other top executives ranged from $888,250 for Schenkel down to $342,750 for Lawton.
eBay also notes that it affords top executives other perks. Once Wenig was tapped as CEO, for instance, he was eligible to use eBay’s corporate airplane for up to 50 hours of personal use, provided that he reimburse the company for those expenses. In 2016, Schenkel was given access to the plane for 20 hours of personal use, provided that he also reimburse the company for that travel.
As part of his deal to join the company, Lawton received a relocation package to cover the costs of moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, including temporary housing.
Here’s a look back at eBay executive compensation published in 2015 before the split, and in 2014.
