X

Sun's McNealy misses out on bonus

Chief Executive Scott McNealy sees his compensation drop from $4.87 million in fiscal 2000 to $2.33 million in fiscal 2001 because of slowing revenue growth and lower earnings per share.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
See full bio
Stephen Shankland
2 min read
Sun Microsystems Chief Executive Scott McNealy saw his compensation drop from $4.87 million in fiscal 2000 to $2.33 million in fiscal 2001 because of slowing revenue growth and lower earnings per share.

Most of the decrease was because his $100,000 salary wasn't supplemented with a bonus this year, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents that Sun filed Friday. Most of his pay came through long-term incentive payments based on Sun's cumulative performance in the past 10 years.

The reasons for the lack of bonus included revenue growth of 16 percent and earnings of 42 cents per share for fiscal 2001, compared with growth of 33 percent and earnings of 55 cents a share in 2000, according to a report from Sun's compensation board.

McNealy wasn't alone. No other Sun executives or employees received bonuses this year, the filing said.

Sun, which chiefly sells the powerful server computers that power corporate network tasks such as stock trading, has been struggling with the financial downturn and the collapse of the Internet economy.

Its fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 was unprofitable. Even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the company believed a first-quarter profit was unlikely.

McNealy didn't fare as well as some of his rivals. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' pay rose 13 percent for the fiscal year, and CEO Steve Ballmer's climbed 14 percent. Ballmer and Gates both had bonuses, though they were smaller than the year before.

Sun President Ed Zander's compensation dropped from $2.94 million in fiscal 2000 to $1.41 million in fiscal 2001.