Abbott CEO pay drops 7% to $26.2M

Abbott Laboratories chief Miles White (photo) always ranks near the top of our executive compensation list, and it looks as if this year will be no exception. Although his total package declined by 7 percent in 2009, he still brought in $26.2 million worth of salary, bonus, stock awards, and the like.

White's base salary grew by about 3 percent to $1.85 million, and his stock awards jumped up 66 percent to almost $12.5 million. The value of his pension and deferred comp grew to $4.29 million. But the amount of stock options Abbott awarded him dropped by more than $7 million, to a bit over $3 million. That's a decline of 71 percent. His incentive plan cash also dropped slightly, to $3.9 million from $4.2 million.

If you look back at 2007, when White made about $32 million, the differences are even more striking: He got $14.77 million worth of options that year, compared with $3.016 million this year. The overall decline between 2007 to 2009: About 18 percent.

Now, last year White came in second place on our ranking behind Johnson & Johnson's Bill Weldon (photo). Where will White stand this year? Looks like we won't know until we hear from J&J.

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