NYSE discloses additional pay for chairman

NEW YORK (AP) -- Pressed by regulators to explain the lavish pay for chairman Dick Grasso, the New York Stock Exchange revealed an additional $48 million in deferred compensation but said Grasso would forfeit it -- after a payout of nearly $140 million announced two weeks ago.
A letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson on Tuesday showed how Grasso's salary and other compensation ballooned from a total of $3 million in 1996, his first full year as chairman and chief executive, to $25.5 million in 2001, his most richly paid year. Multimillion-dollar bonuses, particularly in 2000 and 2001, accounted for much of the growth.
H. Carl McCall, chairman of the exchange's compensation committee, answered point by point the concerns raised by Donaldson.
McCall said that in addition to the $139.5 million already paid to Grasso in retirement benefits and deferred compensation over three decades at the exchange, and his current annual salary of $1.4 million, the NYSE chief was entitled to receive an additional $48 million over the next four years under the terms of a 1999 contract.