Milwaukee, Wis. - The CEO of Harley-Davidson Inc., who took over the motorcycle maker part way through 2009, received a pay package valued at $6.4 million during his first eight months on the job, according to a regulatory filing.

Keith E. Wandell received a base salary of $650,025 from his start date of May 1 through the end of 2009, according to proxy a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He received a bonus of $780,030 and stock and option awards valued at $4.9 million at the time they were issued.

He also received other compensation worth $22,515, which includes a cash payment of $19,733 instead of perquisites.

Wandell, 60, replaced James L. Ziemer, who retired last year after 40 years with Harley-Davidson and four years as its CEO. Before taking over Harley, Wandell was chief operating officer of the car battery and building ventilation systems maker Johnson Controls Inc.

During his final four months as CEO, Ziemer received a pay package valued at $2.9 million. That includes a base salary of $455,144, a bonus of the same amount and stock and options valued at $1.9 million when they were granted.

He received other compensation worth $44,221, including $14,800 in cash instead of perks and $22,521 in contributions to a deferred compensation plan.

The Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker has hit hard times recently as consumers put off buying its high-end bikes. The company ended the fourth quarter with a loss $218.7 million, its first quarterly loss in 16 years.

The company has been laying off workers, closed factories and shuttered or sold unwanted brands.

The AP's total pay calculations include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.

 

Does this make Wandell a 1%'er ? You know, the 1% that makes more than 99% of the rest of the working population. I'd like to get one of them there CEO jobs and they could fire me after one year - I'd still be set for life.

 

I just don't understand exactly how these "bonuses" are calculated. Every job I've ever had that had a "bonus" program attached was based on performance. How do you take over as CEO and run a company into it's first loss in 16 years losing over 200 million dollars and still get a bonus? Who was his agent? Scott Boras??

Not that the guy should have been fired but he surely didn't deserve ANY kind of bonus.

According to my addition that CEO made $6,352,570.00 his first year there. Hard to believe you could hire 127 people at $50K each per year for the cost of One (not so effective) CEO.

 

Well, let's be clear about a few things. The bulk of it, stock options are only "valued at that" based on current stock price. That's quite common for any C-level exec, as well as others several levels below that. They didn't give him $5 million. They gave him stock options that, if excercised would equate to that. They most likely also have a lockup period associated with them, which means he has incentive to make the company do well. Company does poorly, his stock isn't worth as much. As for the rest of the comp package, that isn't out of line with what many execs make even at companies that are far smaller and valued at much smaller numbers. The bonus is probably based a lot on cost cutting. The moco has done much in this area as have many other companies. So, while you may not like it, it's really not that big of a deal to be pulling that kind of comp package as a CEO. Go check out a bunch of other companies that are anywhere near as big as HD, and you'll see it's comparable and in some cases conservative.

 

Man, I'd really like to see this guy's list of responsibilities and duties. How can anyone justify getting that kind of money with jobs falling off around you. Where is the logic in that?

 

Yup he is a 1%'er - once he is able to exercise his options. However, the top 1% only makes 22% of the total income - just for interest sake, they pay about 40% of the taxes.

Given he was hired in the middle of the economic shitstorm, his bonus is going to be based on his actions to make the company survive. A lot of the current loss is attributed to the costs of shrinking and restructuring the business. I suspect the Board thinks he is doing a pretty good job - from what I have seen, I would agree.

Somebody has to be the leader - it requires a pretty unique and valuable skill set and I doubt a group of 127 people could do a CEO's job.

 

RexBuck, I agree it takes a special person to run a company with some special skills. I don't agree with what high level executives are paid. Their salaries are beyond obscene. When I was a kid growing up in the 70's it was a big deal for an executive to make "Six Figures". A lot of average jobs paid around 20 to 25K a year. now those average jobs doubled to maybe 40 to 50K a year. Did those "Six figure" or 100K a year jobs double to 200K, no they pay about 50 times more than they used to.

I still stand by what I said, let me put it a different way. I think a good CEO is more valuable than a dozen or so people but having to pay one single person the money that you could hire 127 people for doesn't add up to me.

Now I'm sure my opinion of supposed "executives" is a little biased. I worked for 30 years as an auto mechanic. 99 percent of the Service "Managers" and General "Managers" I've worked for have been some of the most stupid incompetent men that ever walked in a pair of dress shoes. Men that had absolutely no managerial skills what-so-ever. To be a new car dealer service manager usually meant you started out working on cars but sucked at it. So rather than fire you they move you onto the Service desk to write up customers. If the owner saw that you had a knack for running your big mouth and B/S-ing people you got moved up to service manager. I don't know about other industries, maybe those executives are a little brighter than the ones I've dealt with. A car dealer service managers biggest role is to find ways to try and prove to the owner that they are actually needed. None of them take vacations for fear that the owner will see that the business really doesn't run any different without them around.

 

He, as many CEOs, is obscenely overpaid. On top of that, I think Ziemer was a lot better for HD than this guy. Wandell shows no sense of the tradition and "culture" of Harley-Davidson which I think is too important to be disregarded in following the textbook taught path of corporate management. His jettison of Buell and newly acquired MV Augusta closed two doors on new young American and European customers. But what the hell, it's now for the first time just another company run by someone who has never used the products of the company.

 

As much as Harley needs to keep younger potential buyers coming in I too was surprized they got rid of Buell. I don't know how this venture of selling big touring bikes in India is going to work out either. I would think they could have sold a lot more Buells here as opposed to selling big heavy Harley's in the middle east.

 

I agree.
Not to turn this political but when the top marginal tax rates were higher the money these folks are now getting in salaries was rolled back into the companies for R&D, and such.