Gets $23.9 million in 2008 pay in Exxon Mobil CEO

Gets $23.9 million in 2008 pay in Exxon Mobil CEO. Exxon Mobil Corp., which set annual profit records in each of the last two years, rewarded its chief executive with a 10 percent raise that brought his total compensation to $23.9 million in 2008, according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing.

Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson, 57, received a salary of nearly $1.9 million last year, up from $1.8 million in 2007.

He also was granted a bonus of $4 million in 2008, compared with $3.4 million in 2007. Half of Tillerson's 2008 bonus was paid last year, and the remainder is scheduled to be paid in the next three years, depending on company earnings targets, Exxon officials said.

The bulk of Tillerson's pay came in restricted stock valued at $17.6 million when it was awarded on Nov. 25. He received stock valued at $16.1 million in 2007.

Tillerson also received $446,826 in perks in 2008, up from $429,792 in 2007. The 2008 sum includes $122,182 for a home security system, $57,513 for a personal driver, $41,980 associated with his use of company aircraft and $34,060 for a car.

The Associated Press calculated Tillerson's pay according to a formula that is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on his total compensation package during the last fiscal year.

The AP formula includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, 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 Securities and Exchange Commission.

Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, posted record earnings in 2007 and 2008 as the energy appetites of China and India started to squeeze global supplies. Crude prices soared last year, rising above $147 a barrel as traders and energy experts warned that oil production would soon be overwhelmed by demand.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008. That broke the previous record of $40.6 billion set in 2007.

Oil prices have since plummeted as the recession worsened, manufacturers retrenched and motorists drove billions fewer miles.

U.S. storage houses are brimming with more surplus oil than they've seen in 16 years, and crude prices have dropped to around $50 a barrel.

Despite the plunge in crude prices, Exxon Mobil doesn't plan to cut staff or company investments. Tillerson said last week he expects to spend $129 billion on a variety of new projects during the next five years.

Exxon Mobil said capital spending would rise to $29 billion this year, compared with $26.1 billion in 2008.

The company's annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for May 27 in Dallas. At the meeting, shareholders are expected to consider 11 proposals, including one that would require the company's board to adopt a policy for renewable energy research and development.

In this Jan. 31, 2009 file photo, Rex Tillerson, Chaiman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. speaks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Plunging crude prices have begun to play out in favor of Western oil companies in one regard, giving them leverage with oil-rich countries that only months ago had no reason to compromise.