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New Bankoh The man hired in November to run Bank of Hawaii's parent company, Michael E. O'Neill, will get base pay of $900,000 this year and a bonus of $600,000 in November.
exec has his own
investment at stake
Michael E. O'Neill stands to
make millions as head of
Pacific CenturyBy Russ Lynch
Star-BulletinThe man he replaced as chairman of Pacific Century Financial Corp., Lawrence M. Johnson, got paid $2.9 million for going away, according to a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
That might make O'Neill's pay not seem so great, but his package includes stock options that could make him very rich indeed.
Details disclosed in the announcement of Pacific Century's annual shareholders meeting, set for April 27, show that O'Neill has options to buy 2.2 million Pacific Century shares over the next three years at a set price of $13.65 a share.
That means a $30 million-plus investment for O'Neill, but at yesterday's close of the New York Stock Exchange, Pacific Century was at $20.50 a share, so even if the price does not rise, O'Neill is in for a paper profit of about $15 million.
O'Neill, a former vice chairman of Bank of America whose previous job was a stint as CEO of international banking giant Barclay's PLC, showed early on that he has a solid interest in seeing Pacific Century and its share price improve. He demonstrated that by spending a lot of his own money on Pacific Century stock right after he came aboard.
"He made it clear from the beginning that he wanted no perks, no contract. If the bank wasn't happy with him in nine months, they could say, 'Out of here, O'Neill,'" said the executive recruiter who introduced O'Neill to the bank.
"He said, "My score card is the stock price,'" said John R. Pearson, San Francisco-based managing director of Korn Ferry International, the recruiting firm. "I personally conducted an international search, from the Far East to New York," said Pearson, who described O'Neill as "a real trophy candidate."
In less than two weeks after his Nov. 3 appointment, O'Neill kept his promise to show his confidence in the company by spending $10 million to buy some 680,000 shares at an average price of $14.80 a share. At today's prices those shares are worth close to $14 million.
Johnson, who was with the bank 42 years, the last six of them as CEO, had a benefits package that included a provision for a big sum when he left. He announced his retirement in August and stepped down formally the day O'Neill came aboard, Nov. 3.
O'Neill has no "golden parachute" and also is not part of the company's profit-sharing system. If there is a change of control, the only real benefit he gets is that his stock options become immediately effective, the bank's disclosure shows.