Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos received $1.8M in 2009 pay, up 39 percent from 2008 on security costs

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos received $1.8M in 2009 pay

SAN FRANCISCO — The chief executive and founder of Amazon.com Inc., Jeff Bezos, received $1.8 million in compensation last year, up 39 percent from 2008, according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing Wednesday.

This marks the first time in at least several years that Bezos’ compensation has increased — a change due to Bezos receiving $500,000 more for his personal security services.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bezos, 46, received a salary of $81,840, the same as in 2008. As in the past, the company said in the filing that its executives’ base salaries are intended to be “significantly less than those paid by similarly situated companies.”

Bezos was also given other compensation valued at $1.7 million, which the online retailer said covers the cost of providing for his personal security. In 2008, Bezos received $1.2 million for the same purposes.

The CEO did not receive a bonus or any stock or option awards. Bezos, who owns about 21 percent of the company’s common stock, has never taken stock-based compensation from Amazon.

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 companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.

During 2009, Amazon earned $902 million, or $2.04 per share, on $24.5 billion in revenue. A year earlier, the company earned $645 million, or $1.49 per share, on $19.2 billion in revenue.

Shares of Seattle-based Amazon more than doubled over the course of 2009.

The proxy statement filed with the SEC was required ahead of Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting on May 25.