Boston Beer hands out handsome bonuses to top execs
In a year that saw a 24 percent drop in The Boston Beer Co.’s stock price and a 71 percent fall in its net income through Sept. 29, the maker of Samuel Adams beer awarded more than $1 million in bonuses to its top executives and chairman in 2008.
Boston Beer operates a brewery in Cincinnati’s West End that produces Sam Adams beers.
The bonuses ranged from 42 percent to 83 percent of each individual’s potential total bonus for the year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The biggest award, $399,977, went to Boston Beer President and CEO Martin Roper. Roper’s bonus was $584,200 the prior year. His salary for 2008 was $666,750.
The bonus was 42 percent of Roper’s potential reward, which is determined by a handful of performance metrics, for the year, according to regulatory filings.
Treasurer and chief financial officer William Urich was awarded a $144,320 bonus in 2008, compared with the $148,630 he was awarded for 2007. His most recent reward, on top of his $360,000 in annual pay, represented 82 percent of his total potential bonus for the year.
Other bonus recipients included chairman and founder C. James Koch ($136,475, 50 percent of potential), vice president of operations Robert Hall ($124,875, 67.5 percent) and vice president of operations Thomas Lance ($129,948, 83 percent).
Boston Beer also said a handful of other executives received bonuses ranging between $66,377 and $120,350.
The company said Urich, Hall and Lance would each receive annual salary increases of more than 2 percent in fiscal 2009. Roper and Koch will not receive salary increases this year, the company said. Koch earned $273,000 in salary last year.