Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) cofounder and CEO Gil Shwed is continuing his policy of receiving a minimal annual salary and no annual bonus, while receiving a generous allocation of capital remuneration. The cost of his remuneration in 2016 totaled $35.6 million, slightly less than in 2015. 99.9% of his remuneration consisted of capital, while the cost of his basic pay totaled $15,000, plus $13,000 more in related benefits. The figures were published in Check Point's 20F expanded annual financial statements sent this week to the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The cost of Shwed's remuneration totaled $35.7 million in 2015 and $31.3 million in 2014, the year in which Check Point began to publish the individual cost of its executives' salary, as required by the revision in the Companies Law. His remuneration in 2014-2016 totaled $102.7 million. Check Point provides Internet and information security solutions.
10% more employees
The expanded report also lists the salary of other senior Check Point executives, all of whom received more than in 2015. The cost of president Amnon Bar-Lev's salary was $5.7 million, including $4.8 million in capital remuneration and a $394,000 bonus for meeting targets. The cost of VP products Dr. Dorit Dor's remuneration was $4.2 million, including $3.6 million in capital remuneration and a $240,000 bonus. The cost of CFO and COO Tal Payne's remuneration was $4 million, including $3.2 million in capital remuneration and a $330,000 bonus. The cost of head of human resources Miryam Steinitz's remuneration was $1.3 million.
Another point of interest in Check Point's expanded report was that the number of the company's employees jumped 9.8% to 4,281, 44% of whom are employed in Israel. The number of the company's employees in Israel was up 5.3% to 1,898, the number in the US was up 12.3% to 1,040, and the number in the rest of the world rose 14.9% to 1,343.
Check Point employees exercised 2.8 million options in 2016, reflected a benefit of $113 million. As of the end of 2016, employees held 7.3 million immediately exercisable options at an average strike price of $60.30 per share. The Check Point share price at the time was $84.50, meaning that this strike price reflected a $177 million benefit. The share price has since climbed 23% to over $104, reflecting an $18.2 billion market cap.
Gil Shwed is the largest shareholder in Check Point with a 17.8% stake, currently worth $3.2 billion. Cofounder and chairman Marius Nacht sold off a substantial part of his holding in 2016, leaving him with a 6.8% holding, compared with 12.1% in 2015. The current value of Nacht's stake is $1.17 billion. The Massachusetts Financial Services Company is a party at interest in Check Point, with a 7.7% holding.
Check Point last week published its first quarter results, outperforming the forecasts, with $435 million in revenue and a $202 million non-GAAP net profit.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 30, 2017
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