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NEW YORK — Carnival Corp. Chairman and CEO Micky Arison received compensation valued at about $7 million in fiscal 2010, a 3 percent decrease from the prior year.
The world's biggest cruise operator kept Arison's base salary at $880,000, according to a recent regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He received a performance-based cash bonus of about $2.5 million, up from $2.2 million a year earlier.
Arison also received restricted stock awards valued at $3.5 million on the day they were granted. In fiscal 2009 the executive received about $3.6 million in restricted stock awards.
Additionally, Arison received $127,137 in all other compensation, which included $76,503 for the personal use of company aircraft, $22,581 in health insurance costs and premiums, $11,861 for an automobile lease or allowance, $6,286 for a driver and security and $9,906 for other services.
This amount was considerably less than the $496,513 Arison received a year earlier for all other compensation.
The AP's formula for calculating executive compensation is designed to isolate the value that 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 total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Carnival, which runs the Holland America line, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises and other lines, reported in December that its full-year net income climbed 11 percent to $1.98 billion, or $2.47 per share, compared with $1.79 billion, or $2.24 per share, in the previous year.
The Miami company's annual revenue rose 8 percent to $14.47 billion from $13.46 billion.
The economic recovery has allowed cruise operators like Carnival to start demanding higher prices. People are beginning to feeling confident enough to spend on cruises as the recession's harshest effects start to fade for many.
In January, Carnival more than doubled its quarterly dividend to 25 cents from 10 cents. The dividend will be paid on March 11 to shareholders of record on Feb. 18.
