Maybe Robert Lane, chairman and CEO of Deere & Company, is underpaid at $50 million a year?
Tuesday, with world stock markets melting down and the Dow off nearly 130 points, Deere shares gained nearly nine percent. One analyst even raised the target price for Deere stock, saying the prospects for the company’s tractors and other farm equipment are strong.
Last week, Deere released its annual proxy statement revealing that Lane earned $14.2 million in direct compensation in fiscal 2007 and another $39 million through exercising stock options and vested stock awards. Total take: $53 million plus.
In addition, the filing showed, Lane held vested, unexercised options worth $79 million on October 31 last year, and not-yet-vested options worth $23.4 million. That was at a stock price of $77.45. Deere closed Tuesday at $83.13.
With the value of those unexercised options alone, Lane could fund the annual budget ($112.7 million) of Deere’s hometown, Moline, Ill., and still have a few million left.
While Deere is based in Moline, it’s CEO has strong ties to Chicago. Lane is a national director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and an honorary director of Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the nation’s oldest zoos.
Last year, Lane added Clayton Jones, chairman and CEO of Rockwell Collins, and Charles O. Holliday Jr., chairman and CEO of DuPont, to Deere’s powerful board of directors.
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