IBM CEO Rometty to Receive $3.6 Million Bonus

By Don Clark 

International Business Machines Corp. said Chief Executive Virginia Rometty will receive a $3.6 million bonus for her performance in 2014, despite annual declines in profit and revenue at the computing giant.

The company also set a $13.3 million value on the long-term incentive stock awards that Ms. Rometty could receive for 2015 through 2017, up from the $12.75 million award value IBM reported a year ago. The actual amount of stock units she will receive will vary based on the company's performance, IBM said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A year ago, Ms. Rometty and other members of her senior management team opted to forgo annual bonuses because of disappointing performance in 2013.

Ms. Rometty's base salary for 2015 was due to increase by 6.7% to $1.6 million and her annual bonus target was set at $5 million, according to the filing.

IBM reported on Jan. 20 that net income from continuing operations in 2014 declined 7% to $15.8 billion on revenue that fell 6% to $92.8 billion. IBM's stock declined 14% in 2014.

The company's Friday filing didn't include a rationale for the boost in Ms. Rometty's compensation. But the company has pointed to signs of improved momentum in several parts of its business, including operations based on cloud, mobile and social networking.

In addition, under Ms. Rometty, IBM has exited businesses that weren't contributing to profits, including manufacturing semiconductors and commodity-style server systems.

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