Heinz CEO's compensation nearly doubles to $14.8M in FY2008

Johnson, also the company's chairman and president, earned $1.1 million in salary and nearly $9 million in compensation tied to annual incentives and long-term performance-based rewards, according to a regulatory filing Friday.

In the previous fiscal year, Johnson received overall compensation valued by the company at $7.9 million, including $3.2 million in compensation linked to incentives.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Heinz said its compensation committee had adjusted elements of Johnson's compensation because they were inconsistent with those offered to CEOs at peer companies.

Among the changes was a salary increase of $100,000, the first raise since 2001, when the CEO's salary was set at $1.1 million.

Johnson's pay package included stock and options in fiscal 2008 that were valued by the company at $3.7 million on the day it granted them.

Johnson received $924,306 in other compensation that included $686,629 for an employee retirement and savings plan, $112,139 for life insurance and $50,000 for personal use of Heinz's corporate aircraft.

The Pittsburgh-based company said it had imposed a limit of $50,000 per fiscal year for Johnson's personal use of corporate aircraft and later agreed to allow Johnson to reimburse the company for the expense.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay 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 sometimes differ from the totals that companies report in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.