The hefty compensation package set to be earned by Freddie Mac (NYSE: CFO) has received negative backlash after being announced Friday, according to Associated Press.
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The government-controlled mortgage finance company is giving CFO Ross Kari compensation worth as much as $5.5 million. That includes an almost $2 million cash signing bonus and a generous salary that could top $2.3 million.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Freddie Mac, approved the pay package.
Freddie Mac is now 80% owned by the federal government after the company earned $51 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.
Freddie Mac has been without a permanent CFO for more than a year, when its two top executives stepped down as part of the government takeover in early September 2008. Acting CFO David Kellermann committed suicide in April.
Given the close government control over Freddie Mac, the pay package for its new CFO could have been held up as an example of reasonable compensation. Instead, his pay package doesn't reflect much restraint.
When Kari joins Freddie Mac on Oct. 12, he will receive a base salary of $675,000 and is entitled to an additional $1.66 million in cash for the year. The company said Kari will be paid in installments, but did not specify the timing of those payments in a Sept. 24 securities filing. The company declined to comment beyond the filing.
Kari will also receive performance-based pay at the board's discretion. The target amount for that cash compensation is $1.16 million, but what is actually given to Kari could be higher or lower.
His cash signing bonus totals $1.95 million and will be paid out in semi-monthly installments over the year. That money is supposed to cover what he forfeited in stock options and grants when he left Fifth Third Bancorp, where he served as CFO since last November.
At Fifth Third, Kari's yearly salary was $580,000 and he received a $100,000 signing bonus. He also received a restricted stock grant of 20,000 shares and 40,000 stock appreciation rights, both of which would have vested after four years but were terminated once he left the Cincinnati-based bank.
Had he stayed at Fifth Third, he would not have been able to cash out of his equity compensation until the bank repaid the $3.4 billion in TARP funds it received.
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