Warner Music CEO compensation $3.4M

Edgar Bronfman Jr., chief executive of Warner Music Group Corp., received a compensation package in fiscal 2007 valued at $3.4 million, according to an analysis of documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bronfman, who also holds the title of chairman, received a salary of $1 million along with $2,419,855 in dividends paid on restricted stock, the New York-based recording company said.

The executive, who has headed the company since 2004, declined to receive a cash bonus for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, opting instead for the money to go toward other non-executive employees' bonuses, the company said.

Warner did not specify the size of the bonus that Bronfman would have been entitled to receive.

The company said it does not offer any deferred compensation plans or pension benefits to its executive officers, although they are entitled to participate in a 401k plan with matching contributions.

The Associated Press calculations of total compensation include salary, bonus, incentives, perks, any above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

They may vary from totals listed in the summary compensation table in the company's proxy filed with the SEC.

Warner Music, home to acts such as Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Linkin Park, is the third-largest recording company in the world.

In November, it reported a loss of $21 million, or 14 cents per share, for fiscal 2007. That compared to a profit of $60 million, or 40 cents per share, in the 2006 fiscal year.

The company has struggled amid a multiyear recording industry downturn.

U.S. album sales dropped 9.5 percent last year from 2006, while the industry saw a 45 percent surge in the sale of digital tracks, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Warner Music closed 2007 with a 20.2 percent share of U.S. recorded music sales, up 2.1 percent from 2006.

That hasn't generated much optimism among investors.

The company's stock has ranged between $4.57 and $22.06 over the past 52 weeks. It slid 30 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $6.76 on Friday.

Bronfman has sought to tackle sagging album sales by mining new sources of revenue, focusing in particular on agreements with artists that enable the company to take a cut of touring, merchandising, artist management and other areas.

The executive's employment agreement has automatic one-year-term extensions built in, so it has been extended through March 1, 2009, the company said.

Warner set its fiscal 2007 shareholder meeting for Feb. 26 in New York.

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Warner Music Group Corp.: http://www.wmg.com