Alex Philippidis Senior News Editor Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
Meet the lords of lab instruments.
Biopharma tools and technologies CEOs typically don’t make as much as their counterpart chief executives of drug developers. That trend continued in 2013. However, last year also saw some slight improvement for CEOs in how their compensation stacked up with 2012. Of the 10 highest-compensated CEOs , almost as many (four) saw their pay reduced from the previous year as increased (six), compared with five and five a year earlier.
This year’s list is reduced from last year’s top 20, reflecting a narrowing of criteria for inclusion to CEOs of companies that derive at least a majority of their revenues from biopharma tools—and a consequent removal of companies where biopharma tool operations constituted a minority percentage of activity in 2013.
While two of the five CEOs whose total compensation rose only saw increases of 0.1%, this year’s top two CEOs fared much better, with one enjoying a 17% hike, and the other more-than-doubling his pay from 2012—increases both companies said reflected strong performance. Tool companies continued to focus more of their spending on internal R&D than the drug developers, nearly all of which now rely on collaborations with other biotechs and pharmas.
Also, the tools-and-tech segment continued to consolidate in 2013 through mergers and acquisitions, paced by Thermo Fisher Scientific’s acquisition of Life Technologies for approximately $13.6 billion plus the assumption of $1.5 billion in net debt—the largest M&A deal of 2013. That deal was announced as completed on February 3 of this year, eliminating from this year’s list a Top 10 tools CEO of past years, Life Tech’s chairman and CEO Gregory T. Lucier, who received $10,268,445 in 2012 compensation.
Following is this year’s list, which ranks CEOs of public biotech tools and technologies companies by their total 2013 compensation as disclosed in company proxy statements. Each executive is listed by name, company, title, 2013 and 2012 total compensation, and the percentage change between the two years.
#10. Frank Laukien
Company: Bruker
Title: Chairman, President, and CEO
2013 total compensation: $2,216,780
2012 total compensation: $1,860,6021
% Change: 19.1%
#9. Patrick J. Balthrop, Sr.
Company: Luminex
Title: President and CEO
2013 total compensation: $2,539,072
2012 total compensation: $3,214,478
% Change: -21.0%
#8. Norman Schwartz
Company: Bio-Rad Laboratories
Title: President, CEO, and Chairman2
2013 total compensation: $4,565,6112
2012 total compensation: $4,520,7532
% Change: 0.1%
#7. Olivier A. Filliol
Company: Mettler Toledo
Title: President and CEO
2013 total compensation: $5,223,324
2012 total compensation: $4,384,508
% Change: 19.1%
#6. Robert F. Friel
Company: PerkinElmer
Title: Chairman and CEO
2013 total compensation: $6,511,991
2012 total compensation: $10,832,610
% Change: -39.9%
#5. Jay T. Flatley
Company: Illumina
Title: CEO and Director
2013 total compensation: $7,296,274
2012 total compensation: $8,171,080
% Change: -10.7%
#4. Vincent A. Forlenza
Company: BD (Becton, Dickinson & Co.)
Title: Chairman, CEO, and President
Year ending September 30, 2013 compensation: $9,183,0333
Year ending September 30, 2012 compensation: $9,418,2763
% Change: -2.5%
#3. William P. Sullivan
Company: Agilent Technologies
Title: President and CEO
2013 total compensation: $10,235,672
2012 total compensation: $10,135,717
% Change: 0.1%
#2. Rakesh Sachdev
Company: Sigma-Aldrich4
Title: President and CEO
2013 total compensation: $10,516,8055
2012 total compensation: $4,529,322
% Change: 132.2%
#1. Marc N. Casper
Company: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Title: President and CEO
2013 total compensation: $16,168,880
2012 total compensation: $13,822,325
% Change: 17.0%
Notes:
1 Nearly two-thirds (64.8%) of Laukien’s total compensation in 2012 consisted of $1,206,000 in stock awards.
2 Named to the additional position of Chairman in April 2012, upon the passing of his father David Schwartz, who with his wife Alice co-founded Bio-Rad. The younger Schwartz has served as president and CEO since succeeding his father January 1, 2003.
3 Becton Dickinson operates on a fiscal year that begins October 1 of the previous year.
4 On September 22, Merck KGaA announced plans to acquire Sigma-Aldrich for $17 billion: https://genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/merck-kgaa-to-acquire-sigma-aldrich-for-17b/81250377/
5 For 2013, $5,239,583 of Sachdev’s total compensation was due to special performance-based equity grants awarded when it amended and restated his employment agreement on September 3, 2013. Sachdev’s term was extended five years as of January 1, 2014. In connection with that extension, the Compensation Committee made the grants available under the 2003 Long-term Incentive Program, based on the committee’s belief that “Sachdev’s contributions to the company were a significant factor in the increase in shareholder value over the past several years and that retaining his services supports our shareholders’ long-term interests.” The special grant consisted of 130,000 stock options valued at approximately $2.86 million, and 30,290 performance shares valued at approximately $2,379,582.
