Clorox CEO gets $7.5M in fiscal 2009 compensation

SAN FRANCISCO — Clorox Co. gave CEO Don Knauss compensation valued at $7.5 million, a 5 percent raise, as the company’s profit rose despite the economic tumult of the past year.

The Oakland, Calif.-based consumer products maker boosted Knauss’ salary by 7 percent to $1.1 million for fiscal 2009, which ended in June. He was also awarded stock and options worth nearly $5 million at the time they were granted on Sept. 16, 2008, up 9.5 percent from the prior year, according to an Oct. 2 regulatory filing.

Half the value of those grants was given as stock options with a strike price of $63.95, which has left the options underwater since the stock has stayed below that level since then. It now trades at $58.15, as of Wednesday afternoon.

Knauss also received $217,256 in perks and other compensation, a 15 percent drop from the prior year.

The pay raise came as Clorox’s annual profit rose 16 percent and its adjusted profit handily beat analyst expectations. Yearly revenue rose 3 percent.

Knauss, who is 57, joined the company as CEO in October 2006 from a top-level job at Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta.

That move entitled him to a generous relocation benefit. He received a mortgage subsidy and related tax payments that amounted to about $120,000 for 2009. With similar, larger payments in 2007 and 2008, Knauss has received a total of just more than $1 million under the mortgage subsidy program, which allows him to spread the payments out over several years.

Clorox spokesman Dan Staublin declined to say how much Knauss would receive in all, nor how many years it would take to pay it off completely. Staublin said the subsidy is designed to cover the difference in housing costs between cities, and that the benefit it available to any employee Clorox relocates who meets the program’s criteria.

Knauss — who previously also worked at PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble — has been in charge of Clorox as input costs and currency rates fluctuated unexpectedly. Clorox makes its namesake bleach as well as eco-friendly Green Works cleaning products, Armor All polish, Fresh Step kitty litter, Glad trash bags, Kingsford charcoal, Burt’s Bees toiletries and other household items.

Other than the mortgage subsidy, Knauss got perks that included a $19,113 contribution to a 401(k) retirement plan, $42,263 in non-qualified deferred compensation, $16,500 for financial planning and $14,076 for an executive automobile program.

The Associated Press compensation formula is designed to isolate the value the company’s board placed on the executive’s total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, 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 Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive’s compensation in the previous fiscal year.

Clorox’s filing also notified shareholders that the company’s annual meeting has been scheduled for Nov. 18, for San Ramon, Calif.