IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’s total compensation for fiscal year 2021 reached almost $18 million as the company took steps to better position itself as the dominant hybrid cloud provider, according to a recent filing from the tech giant with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Krishna’s total compensation for fiscal year 2021 was a 3 percent increase over the prior year, according to the SEC documents.
His base pay of $1.5 million in fiscal year 2022 stays the same year over year. It had increased by 11 percent from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2021. The data comes before IBM’s annual shareholders meeting April 26.
CRN has reached out to IBM for comment. Along with Krishna, some of IBM’s top earners for 2021 include Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh, Vice Chairman Gary Cohn, Senior Vice President of IBM Software and Chairman of North America Tom Rosamilia plus Michelle Browdy, IBM’s senior vice president of legal and regulatory affairs general counsel.
Also disclosed in the SEC documents is that IBM investors were unhappy with a one-time equity award given to former President Jim Whitehurst in March 2020.
Whitehurst announced his departure from IBM in the summer. He has stayed on as an adviser with the Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant, and will continue that role until May 31, according to the SEC documents. Whitehurst joined IBM in 2020 through the acquisition of Red Hat, where he served as CEO.
The award was “in connection with Mr. Whitehurst signing an IBM non-compete agreement (NCA) that fully covered the scope of IBM’s business footprint and was consistent with those signed by other IBM senior leaders,” according to the documents.
Also discussed in the SEC documents are the introduction this year of stock options as part of the equity pay mix for executives.
The goal is to incentivize executives in generating value through IBM’s stock price, according to the documents.
Here’s what else you need to know about some of the most highly compensated executives at IBM.