Colgate-Palmolive Chief Executive Ian M. Cook gets 31 percent pay boost to $14.4M in 2009

Colgate-Palmolive CEO gets 31 percent pay boost

NEW YORK — Colgate-Palmolive Co.’s CEO Ian M. Cook’s compensation rose 31 percent last year to $14.4 million, as the company’s profit rose amid flat sales of its name-brand toothpastes and soaps, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory filings.

Cook, 57, received a 7 percent boost to his salary for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31 to $1.15 million, according to a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

His performance-related bonus for the year grew 9 percent to $3.5 million, from nearly $3.2 million the previous year.

In all, Cook earned nearly $11 million in fiscal 2008. The bulk of the growth in his 2009 compensation came in an increase in stock options and restricted stock. They were worth $9.6 million when granted, up from $6.5 million the previous year.

Cook’s compensation also included $225,004 in perquisites, or “perks,” including $139,693 in contributions to a savings plan and investments, $44,469 for a car and driver and $26,522 in contributions to his 401(k), according to the filings made Friday. He also received $2,820 in company-paid life insurance premiums.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals that companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.

Cook has been CEO of the company, based in New York, since 2007. He has been with the company, known for brands like Murphy Oil Soap, Hill’s Science Diet and Irish Spring, since 1976.

The company has been doing well in the recession as shoppers keep buying its brands, which are tops in their categories and have proven resistant to trade-downs to less-expensive alternatives. Price increases and growth in international markets such as Latin America have also helped performance, as has a boost in marketing.

For the full year, the company’s profit rose 17 percent to $2.29 billion, or $4.37 per share on flat revenue of $15.33 billion.

Shares gained nearly 20 percent in fiscal 2009 to finish at $82.15. They were trading at $84.15 Monday afternoon.