Motorola's co-CEOs graciously cut own pay in cost-cutting plan

by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 18th 2008 at 4:02AM

Motorola was already in the hurt locker well before this latest economic crapstorm went into overdrive, so it stands to reason that pennies are being pinched and belts are being tightened across the board out in Schaumburg. 'Course, all sorts of jobs have already been cut, so what else can you do? For starters, you can trim a few bucks off the salaries of two of the companies' more well-paid individuals -- co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha -- both of whom will "voluntarily" take 25 percent pay cuts in 2009 (don't worry, they'll still be able to make ends meet). Additionally, Brown will skip out on his 2008 bonus while Jha will have his bonus reduced by the total amount of Brown's forfeited bonus, and he'll take the remainder as restricted-sale stock instead of the cold, hard cash that might be a little more valuable than shares of Motorola should the company go south. For employees without seven-figure salaries, they're looking at frozen pension plans and an elimination of the company's match into retirement accounts for '09. Sign of the times, eh?

[Thanks, Joe M.]