Amid sales slump, Teva CEO Schultz's pay falls 7% to $14.7M

After a year in which Teva's revenues declined by 6%, the generics giant has cut the pay of its top executives, including CEO Kare Schultz.

Schultz, who scored $15.72 million in total 2020 pay, saw (PDF) a drop in his compensation last year to $14.68 million, a 6.6% decrease, according to the company's proxy statement.

While the 60-year-old Schultz received the same base salary and stock awards as in 2020, it was his cash incentive plan compensation that dropped from $3.06 million to $2.03 million.

In its proxy, Teva says it achieved "very solid results" despite challenges last year. For Schultz's pay package, the company's earnings came in at 96% of target and free cash flow came in at 95% of target, the company said.

In 2019, his second full year as Teva’s CEO, Schultz scored a pay package worth $11.59 million. His bump in 2020 pay to $15.72 million came from an increase in his stock awards, from $6 million to $10 million. The raise in pay came after a year in which Teva cut costs around the globe.

As for Teva's other execs, chief financial officer Eli Kalif collected $3.54 million in total 2021 pay, down from $3.72 million in 2020. Global operations chief Eric Drape scored $3.81 million, down from his $3.84 million pay package in 2020. North America commercial chief Sven Dethlefs nabbed $3.82 million, while international markets chief Mark Sabag scored $3.78 million.

Last month Teva revealed that its 2021 revenues fell 6% to $15.88 billion. Some of the decline was credited to generic competition for Copaxone, whose sales dropped from $1.3 billion to $1.1 billion. Teva said it expects the drug to generate $850 million in sales this year.

Teva aims to make up for the Copaxone shortfall with increased sales of Tardive dyskinesia treatment Austedo, which raked in $802 million last year, an increase of 26% from 2020. Sales also are increasing for migraine med Ajovy, which made $313 million last year. Teva expects Austedo will hit blockbuster status this year while projecting sales of Ajovy to reach $400 million.