AOL Time Warner execs Gerald Levin and Steve Case pulled down $223.6 million between them by exercising stock options last year according to a proxy statement filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reuters reports.
Levin, 61, exercised $152.6 million in options under his old Time Warner contract and also received salary and bonuses totaling $11 million in 2000 plus additional stock options worth a potential $14 million. His salary of $1 million was the same as in 1999, but his bonuses rose $1 million last year to $10 million. Options Levin exercised were granted prior to America Online's $124 billion acquisition of Time Warner in January.
AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case exercised $71.2 million in AOL stock options prior to the merger's completion, according to the regulatory filing. Case, 42, received salary and bonuses of almost $1.8 million in calendar 2000, spanning two fiscal years of the former AOL. But he distributed more than $400,000 in his own bonuses to other employees.
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For both Levin and Case, the value of the options exercised was calculated on the basis of the stock price on days shares were exercised.
In a separate regulatory filing, AOL Time Warner said it may take a "significant" non-cash charge in the first quarter to write down some investments. The media giant claimed its investments in various publicly traded companies had declined a total of $300 million as of March 21.
