McDonald's CEO gets $7.86M compensation, down more than 40%

McDonald's Corp. Chief Executive Jim Skinner received compensation the company valued at $7.86 million in 2007, a regulatory filing showed Wednesday.

Skinner's base salary -- $1.26 million -- grew more than seven percent in 2007 as profits at the world's largest fast-food chain fell 32 percent. But the total value of his compensation dropped more than 40 percent because of decreases in incentive pay.

In 2007, the 63-year-old took home $3.06 million from the fast food's chain cash incentive plan. That's 65 percent less than the $8.8 million he earned the year before when he received a $3.5 million in compensation for the company's 2006 performance and $5.3 million for it beating targets for 2004-06.

Skinner, who is the company's vice chairman, also earned stock and option awards that the company valued at $2.95 million at the time they were given, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2006, he received stock and options valued at $3.03 million.

In 2007, Skinner took home more than $580,000 in other compensation, a figure that covered perks such as personal use of company aircraft and the company's contributions to a profit-sharing plan.

The year before, Skinner's other compensation totaled $378,100.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits and sometimes differ from the totals released by the companies.

For 2007, McDonald's profits fell to $2.4 billion, or $1.98 per share, from $3.5 billion, or $2.83, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 9 percent to $22.8 billion. The full-year results were weighed down by a hefty one-time charge for the sale of some Latin American operations.