Mylan chief jets to pop singer son's concerts on company aircraft

Mylan Executive Chairman Robert Coury

For Mylan Executive Chairman Robert Coury, the perks of his job have come in handy. They're pretty useful for his son, too, The Wall Street Journal reports. An aspiring pop star, Tino Coury hasn't been confined to the usual tour bus. He has hopscotched from one concert venue to another with his father--on the corporate jet.

Now, Coury's compensation package includes use of the company aircraft, even for purely personal reasons. In fact, until last year, Mylan ($MYL) not only spent hundreds of thousands on his aircraft use--but also covered the taxes Coury owed for personal jet use. And he's allowed to take family members along, a Mylan spokeswoman told the WSJ.

So, his son's trips to San Antonio, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Las Vegas and West Palm Beach--where he would perform (see a music video here)--would be perfectly kosher. "Mr. Coury's family members have occasionally been passengers on the corporate aircraft," spokeswoman Nina Devlin told the newspaper.

As the WSJ notes, many public companies have withdrawn perks such as personal jet travel, sometimes after shareholder protest. For Coury's last year as CEO--2011--the company stopped paying his taxes on personal aircraft use, but still spent more than $500,000 on his personal flights. His total compensation for the year? More than $21 million, putting him among the highest-paid executives in the pharma business, according to FiercePharma's CEO pay report.

Mylan is no stranger to controversy surrounding its top officials. Heather Bresch, who's now CEO of the company (and one of the highest-ranked women in the industry), attracted unwanted attention a few years ago when questions were raised about the Executive MBA listed on her resume.

- read the WSJ piece (sub. req.)

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