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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

highest paid public-company executives Ranked by total compensation in fiscal 1999

Executive summary The New Economy has had a major impact on the list of the San Fernando Valley’s highest-paid public company executives. Last year, the No. 1 executive on the list was Superior Industries International Chairman and President Louis L. Borick, whose 1998 compensation package totaled $6.8 million. But that’s chicken feed compared to this year’s top player, NetZero CEO Mark R. Goldston, who raked in $153 million in 1999. This year, Borick placed No. 13, with a $3.2 million compensation package. If the list were extended to include the 25 highest-paid executives in the Valley, Amgen Inc. would have the most entrants on the list, with six. Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. would have four of its top executives among the top 25, and Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. and Xircom Inc. would each have three. The pacesetter Mark R. Goldston The chairman and CEO of Westlake Village-based NetZero led the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County as a whole as the highest paid public company executive in 1999. Like many New Economy executives, Goldston’s pay package is weighted heavily with long-term compensation meaning he is loaded up on stock options. While Goldston took home a modest $127,000 in salary and bonus last year, his stock options were valued at $153 million. The difference between Goldston’s pay and that of the list’s second-place finisher, Wellpoint Health Networks chief Leonard Schaeffer, points up the difference between compensation packages at New and Old Economy companies. Schaeffer’s 1999 salary of $3.2 million was far greater than Goldston’s, but the Wellpoint chief’s long-term benefits, at $8.6 million, were a relative pittance. The 40-something Goldston was hired last year to head NetZero, the nation’s largest provider of free Internet access service. The company went public last fall, closing at $27.75 on its first day of trading. The stock as of late June was trading at around $7 a share. Prior to joining NetZero, Goldston was chairman and CEO of the Goldston Group, a strategic advisory firm. Goldston has also held top positions at Einstein/Noah Bagel Corp., L.A. Gear and Odyssey Partners LP, a private equity firm.

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