WASHINGTON BUREAU — The Treasury special master on compensation has ordered that the cash salaries of the 25 top executives at American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) and other companies receiving large amounts of government help be cut by one-third on average from 2009 levels.
Total pay for executives at AIG, New York, and two other companies will be 15% lower than what the executives received in 2009.
Kenneth Feinberg, the special master, has given those orders in rulings on 2010 pay for companies that received "exceptional compensation" under government programs implemented after September 2008 to aid large companies in financial distress.
"Total pay decreased even including the value of the long-term stock the Special Master is requiring executives to hold over the long term," Feinberg says.
But Feinberg says he has ordered the cash salaries paid at the AIG Financial Products unit frozen.
He also says he has ordered that pledges to repay bonuses by employees be honored, and that all additional compensation at the AIG Financial Products unit be made in stock that must be "held over time."
