Bears Stearns CEO James E. Cayne has collected a bonus of stock valued at $14.8 million after the firm reported its fifth consecutive year of record profit, according to an SEC filing.
Bear Stearns has awarded Cayne 89,758 stock units valued at $165.32 apiece. The 72-year-old CEO also received options on 35,788 shares of stock.
Stock awards are merely the first part of annual executive compensation that the firm makes public. Cayne’s total pay package last year was worth $30.3 million, but the 2006 profits at Bear were up 40 per cent this year to a record of $2.1 billion, so he can expect more.