The pay raise came during a year when the largest publicly traded U.S. asset management company saw its shares benefit from the credit crisis by winning mandates to restructure distressed portfolios while steering clear itself of the most risky investments.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc <BLK.N> Chairman and Chief Executive Laurence Fink received $41.87 million in compensation in 2007, a 27 percent increase from the prior year, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.
The pay raise came during a year when the largest publicly traded U.S. asset management company saw its shares benefit from the credit crisis by winning mandates to restructure distressed portfolios while steering clear itself of the most risky investments.
Fink, who co-founded BlackRock 20 years ago, in 2007 was awarded a $500,000 salary, a $16.15 million bonus and $230,552 of "other compensation," according to a proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
He was also granted stock and option awards valued at $25 million as of the grant date.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Fink's salary stayed the same from the prior year, but his bonus increased 59 percent.
BlackRock said Fink's compensation was influenced by measurable 2007 results including 53 percent growth in earnings per share on an adjusted basis, overall growth in assets under management of 21 percent and "continued competitive investment performance."
The company also noted the acquisition of the Quellos fund of funds business for $1.7 billion last year as a factor in Fink's compensation.
BlackRock also noted that it does not have employment, severance, or change of control agreements with any of its top executives.
(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski, editing by Mark Porter)
