Long-term equity awards are the biggest portion of compensation for CEOs of large public companies, including for Ecolab CEO Christophe Beck. But when the stock sinks during the year, it affects the value of those awards, leading to a 22% decrease in Beck's compensation last year.
- Total compensation: $2,235,914 for year ended Dec. 31.
- Salary: $1,056,250
- Non-equity incentive pay: $0
- Other compensation: $133,088
- Value realized on vesting shares: $1,046,576
- New stock options: 105,865
- Median employee pay: $55,729
- CEO pay ratio: 156 to 1
- Total shareholder return 2022: -37.1%
Note: Ecolab's stock had a negative 37% total return in 2022 and that limited equity gains for executives. CEO Christophe Beck's total compensation sank 73% from the $8.4 million he realized the year before.
In 2022, Beck elected not to exercise any of his previously issued stock options, where the previous year he had gained $4.8 million from options.
The company missed the minimum threshold for its earnings per share target for the year, which is the main financial component of Ecolab's annual management incentive plan (MIP). So Beck, and other executives, did not earn an annual cash bonus for meeting company-wide financial targets for 2022.
It was the second time in previous three years that Ecolab executives missed out on MIP bonuses for the year.
