Ameren Chief Executive Warner Baxter earned $8.0 million last year, a 22 percent increase, as the company rewarded him for rising earnings.
In a new calculation that's required for public companies this year, a filed Monday says Baxter earned 66 times as much as the median Ameren employee. Ameren employs 8,600 people and says they earn a median $122,003.
Baxter's salary rose 3 percent to $1.08 million and his $1.78 million was 154 percent of the target amount. Ameren's bonuses are based on earnings along with safety and reliability measures.
Baxter also was credited with $4.74 million in performance shares, the value of which depends on Ameren's shareholder return between 2017 and 2019.
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His pay total also includes a $598,542 increase in pension value, $30,488 in above-market interest on deferred compensation, $10,000 of financial planning services, $1,500 in matching charitable grants and $1,775 in tickets and event expenses.
The three-year performance shares from 2015 paid off handsomely for Baxter and other executives. Because Ameren's shares outperformed those of peer companies, the executives received 162.5 percent of their target awards. And, thanks to Ameren's rising stock price, the shares Baxter received were worth $8.4 million, more than double the 2015 estimate of $3.6 million.
The St. Louis electricity provider's earnings per share fell 20 percent last year, but that included a charge related to the new federal tax law. Ameren calculates that "core" earnings increased 5.6 percent, and its share price rose 12 percent.
Baxter's golden parachute -- the amount to which he's entitled if he leaves Ameren after a takeover -- is valued at $36.9 million. That includes $7.5 million of cash severance, $15 million worth of unvested performance shares, $1.1 million in pension credit and $13 million to pay taxes on the whole package.
