Valeant CEO Joseph Papa Was Paid $62.7 Million in 2016 -- Update
March 23 2017 - 10:35AM
Dow Jones News
By Anne Steele
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Chief Executive
Joseph Papa took in $62.7 million in pay last year as he navigated
the fallout from accounting problems, a near debt default and
investigations by Congress.
The drug-industry vet was tapped to take over the embattled
Canadian company in May and sought to rebuild investor confidence
and remake the business after a series of missteps.
The bulk of Mr. Papa's pay -- $42 million -- came from stock
awards, while $9.1 million came from bonuses. His salary was
$980,769.
Mr. Papa received an $8 million signing bonus, and a $1.1
million "individual performance" bonus.
Valeant said the financial goals it had established at the
beginning of the year -- before Mr. Papa took the reins -- weren't
"sufficiently achieved" in 2016, but the company paid the new CEO
half of the additional cash bonus to recognize "the significance
and quality of the contributions" he made. Under the compensation
package Valeant offered, the board could have paid Mr. Papa as much
as $2.25 million for his performance last year.
"The board is very supportive of Mr. Papa's efforts to date and
is confident in his abilities and those of his team to lead us
through our transformation," the company said in a filing.
Mr. Papa's pay was more than five times higher than what he had
earned in 2015 at the helm of Perrigo Co., but less than half of
the $141.6 million Valeant's former CEO Michael Pearson was paid at
Valeant in 2015.
Valeant's stock, battered 68% over the past 12 months through
Wednesday's close, has dropped 96% from its August 2015 peak of
$262.52.
Investors have been watching for signs on how Valeant can boost
profitability outside of big acquisitions and large price increases
for its drugs. Analysts remain concerned about the company's debt
burden and have questioned the strength of its drug pipeline.
During 2016, Valeant lost $2.41 billion, compared with $292
million the year before. The company has said it is no longer
providing earnings guidance, but offered an adjusted earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization outlook in the
range of $3.55 billion to $3.7 billion for 2017.
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2017 11:20 ET (15:20 GMT)
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