News Digest

I’ll drink to that: Coke CEO gets £12m after company fails to meet targets

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent was given a pay package worth £12.2 million last year even after the world’s biggest beverage company failed to meet its own growth targets. The compensation is on par with his 2013 earnings, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The pay package for 2014 would have been higher if Kent had accepted a £1.7 million cash performance bonus. Kent, 62 has been CEO since 2008, and said he turned down the bonus because the company is making “difficult but necessary decisions” to improve its performance and that there was “still much work to be done.”

I felt it was the right decision.

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent

Those moves have included cutting 1,800 of its 130,000 global jobs. Kent’s compensation for last year included a salary of £1.1 million, stock awards of £4.4 million and stock options of £6.3 million. All other compensation, including use of the company plane, security and retirement fund contributions, came to about £480,000. Coca-Cola Co., which also makes Sprite, Powerade and Dasani, has cited challenging economic conditions around the world for its sales struggles.