Oracle CEO Eligible for $11M Bonus

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Lawrence J. Ellison is eligible for a bonus of more than $11 million in fiscal 2007, according to a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4254689.html

What's the big deal? According that same filing, these are performance bonuses based upon improvements in revenues and profit:

Determination of Awards. Under the Bonus Plan, participants will be eligible to receive awards based upon the attainment, in fiscal year 2007, and certification of certain performance criteria established by the Compensation Committee. For fiscal year 2007:

(a) Mr. Ellison, our Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Henley, our Chairman of the Board; Ms. Catz, a President and our Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Phillips, a President, will each receive an award based on Oracle's improvement in its pre-tax profit on a non-GAAP basis from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007;

(b) each Executive Vice President and one Senior Vice President directly responsible for sales and consulting (collectively, the “Sales and Consulting Participants”) will receive an award based upon growth in license revenues, customer relationship management On Demand revenues and outsourcing bookings (i.e., contracts signed associated with our On Demand business) in their respective areas of responsibility from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007 and upon reaching and exceeding targets with respect to licensing, outsourcing and consulting margins in their respective areas of responsibility for fiscal year 2007; and

(c) each Executive Vice President and two Senior Vice Presidents not directly responsible for sales or consulting will receive an award based on improvement in profit or license sales growth in their respective areas of responsibility from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1341439/0001193125062...

In other words, they don't win unless we (shareholders) also win. This is not some bonus for staying with the company x number of years/quarters no matter how poorly the company performs on the top- and bottom-lines. As shareholders, this is exactly the type of bonus we want to see.