Westside’s Top-Paid Executives Like Working Where They Live : Salaries: Traffic and high rents haven’t discouraged many of the highest-paid entertainment and business moguls from congregating there.
Naysayers talk about the high rents. Then they talk about the traffic. Then they talk about the high rents some more.
But it doesn’t matter how much outsiders pummel the Westside. Los Angeles’ captains of industry, entertainment and commerce still choose the area more often than any other, except perhaps downtown, to make their corporate homes.
The continuing allure of Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Marina del Rey and the rest of the area is reflected in the number of top corporate executives who have their offices on the Westside. A Times survey of the salaries of officers in publicly traded corporations reflects the diverse economy of the Westside--with executives making top dollar for everything from banking and oil production to hospital management, clothing manufacture and, of course, filmmaking.
The salaries in the Times list come from the reports of publicly owned companies, which must reveal the pay of top officers to shareholders. The listing does not include compensation for the heads of private firms or for professionals, entertainers, educators, government employees and executives of large companies with local branches that make their corporate headquarters elsewhere. Additionally, the rankings are based on where executives work, not where they live.
Business experts say moguls like to work on the Westside because they live in the area. For movie makers, especially, there is the allure of working within power-lunching range of most of their partners and friends. There is also the power of tradition and even, in some cases, economy--older firms that moved to the Westside when prices were lower not only have an identity there, but either own their buildings or have locked in low rents.
“A lot of the executives live on the Westside, so it’s very convenient for them to work here,” said William Whyte, a Century City real estate broker. “The decision-makers want to keep that location close to where they are living. And the freeway congestion has continued to put a damper on moving around the city. People don’t want the wait to get downtown.”
Most entertainment executives insist on being among their own kind on the Westside, the business experts say.
“There is a certain critical mass that develops between Hollywood, Century City and the Westside,” said real estate developer Rob MacLeod, whose clients inlcude entertainment firms. “When you develop networks, with business breakfasts and lunches, having concentrations of people becomes very important.”
Other firms bought on the Westside early enough to avoid astronomical office prices. Occidental Petroleum Corp., for instance, has made its home in its signature building on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood for more than 30 years. It owns the office tower.
The oil company placed five executives on The Times’ list of the top 50 earners on the Westside, including No. 1, the late Armand Hammer.
The former Occidental Petroleum leader topped the list posthumously for all of California, as well, with total compensation of more than $28.7 million.
Hammer owed most of his rewards in 1990 to his own death in December. An employment agreement between the 92-year-old industrialist and Occidental required that a series of payments be made to trusts and foundations set up for Hammer’s heirs.
Nearly $18.3 million went to the Armand Hammer Foundation and $4.6 million to the Armand Hammer Living Trust. Hammer’s estate reeived $1.9 million in miscellaneous “benefits” payments, $12,025 in vested employer contributions to Hammer’s savings plan, and $316,442 from “the senior executive supplemental benefit program.” That makes a total of $25,106,046 in posthumous payments.
Hammer also earned a $1,487,326 salary in 1990, a $920,000 bonus and another $1.2 million when restrictions on a 62,712-share grant of stock lapsed at this death.
The payments were just another burden on beleaguered Occidental, which lost $1.7 billion last year, more than any other company in the state.
Occidental President Ray R. Irani also was among the best paid on the Westside. His $2.4 million put him 14th on the list, while Executive Vice President David A. Hentschel made more than $1 million to rank 39th.
Two companies that operate hospitals--American Medical Holdings Inc. of Beverly Hills and National Medical Enterprises of Santa Monica--also appear prominently in the listing of the Westside’s highest-paid executives.
American Medical had more employees--nine--on the list than any other firm. The company’s chief operating officer, John J. Silver Jr., led the way with total compensation of nearly $3.3 million, placing him eighth on the list.
National Medical Enterprises President Leonard Cohen was fourth on the list at nearly $5.2 million, while John C. Bedrosian, a senior executive vice president, was fifth at just under $3.8 million for 1990.
When NME recently decided to consolidate its offices in Santa Monica and Brentwood into a single headquarters, it never considered leaving the Westside, said Brian Eamer, the company’s vice president for corporate real estate.
“We looked at the benefits of being near the historical location of the company,” said Eamer, also son of the company’s chairman, “and also of owning rather than leasing a property. Besides, the top management and founders live in the immediate area, from Pacific Palisades to Bel-Air.”
Westside’s Highest-Paid Executives
The following is a list of the highest-paid executives of publicly owned companies headquartered in the Westside. It is taken from The Times’ annual executive compensation survey of California’s largest companies. The information was derived from proxy statements and annual reports of more than 500 firms.
Guide to Title Abbreviations CCOB: Co-chairman of board CEO: Chief executive officer CFO: Chief financial officer COB: Chairman of the board CONS: Consultant COO: Chief operating officer EVP: Executive vice president LC: Legal counsel P: President SO: Subsidiary officer SVP: Senior vice president
Name Company Title 1 Armand Hammer Occidental Petroleum COB, CEO 2 Bram Goldsmith City National COB, CEO, SO 3 Lloyd E. Cotsen Neutrogena P, CEO 4 Leonard Cohen National Medical P, COO Enterprises 5 John C. Bedrosian National Medical SEVP Enterprises 6 Robert Y. Greenberg L A Gear COB, P 7 Joseph T. Casey Litton Industries VCOB, CFO 8 John J. Silver Jr. American Medical Holdings EVP, COO 9 Mario F. Kassar Carolco Pictures COB 10 Gil N. Schwartzberg L A Gear EVP, CAO 11 R. Jeffrey Taylor American Medical Holdings EVP 12 Bruce Karatz Kaufman & Broad Home P, CEO 13 Sandy Saemann L A Gear EVP, SEC 14 Ray R. Irani Occidental Petroleum P, COO, SO 15 Richard K. Eamer National Medical COB, CEO Enterprises 16 Jules Haimovitz Spelling Entertainment P, COO 17 Richard Pajot American Medical Holdings SVP 18 Kent Kresa Northrop P, CEO, COB 19 Guy Nafilyan Kaufman & Broad Home SVP, SO 20 William S. Mortensen FirstFed Financial COB, CEO 21 Thomas C. Sawicki American Medical Holdings SVP 22 W. Randolph Smith American Medical Holdings EVP 23 David B. Finkel American Medical Holdings EVP 24 Henry Gluck Caesars World CEO, COB 25 James F. Montgomery Great Western Financial COB, CEO, SO 26 Charles N. Sabatino American Medical Holdings SVP 27 Orion L. Hoch Litton Industries COB, CEO 28 Robert A. Harris Imagine Films P Entertainment 29 Andrew G. Vajna Carolco Pictures CCOB 30 James F. Lyons American Medical Holdings P 31 David H. Murdock Castle & Cooke COB, CEO 32 Charles W. Fries Fries Entertainment COB, P, CEO 33 Brian Grazer Imagine Films CCOB Entertainment 34 Ron Howard Imagine Films CCOB Entertainment 35 J. Terrence Lanni Caesars World P, COO 36 Wendy L. Simpson American Medical Holdings SVP, CFO 37 Bernard Salick Salick Health Care COB, CEO, P 38 George A. Roberts Teledyne CEO 39 David A. Hentschel Occidental Petroleum EVP, SO 40 Raymond F. Henze III Castle & Cooke EVP 41 Fred W. O’Green Litton Industries CONS 42 Peter M. Hoffman Carolco Pictures P, CEO 43 John F. Maher Great Western Financial P, COO, SO 44 Aaron Spelling Spelling Entertainment CEO, COB 45 Joseph F. Alibrandi Whittaker COB, CEO 46 Gerald M. Stern Occidental Petroleum EVP, LC 47 O.C. Davis Occidental Petroleum EVP, SO 48 Terry T. Tomich National Mercantile P, COO, CEO Bancorp 49 Roger W. Norian Kerr Glass Manufacturing COB, CEO, P 50 Eli Broad Broad COB, P, CEO
1990 Total Comp. 1 28,720,578 2 7,091,140 3 6,096,371 4 5,165,007 5 3,764,254 6 3,469,583 7 3,318,797 8 3,265,770 9 3,136,224 10 3,032,692 11 2,650,134 12 2,555,646 13 2,543,951 14 2,450,820 15 2,417,489 16 1,850,113 17 1,800,201 18 1,796,399 19 1,772,850 20 1,769,414 21 1,646,699 22 1,636,801 23 1,485,025 24 1,479,489 25 1,443,495 26 1,422,534 27 1,390,014 28 1,376,442 29 1,363,133 30 1,340,793 31 1,305,000 32 1,247,691 33 1,221,600 34 1,221,600 35 1,220,407 36 1,204,946 37 1,067,812 38 1,046,863 39 1,034,133 40 1,032,750 41 1,017,589 42 993,750 43 993,429 44 979,503 45 959,628 46 955,904 47 919,832 48 908,315 49 893,385 50 892,292
Salary Stock Stock Other Name & Bonus Options Awards Comp. 1 Armand Hammer 2,407,326 None 1,207,206 25,106,046 2 Bram Goldsmith 2,531,860 4,559,280 None None 3 Lloyd E. Cotsen 667,160 5,429,211 None None 4 Leonard Cohen 1,407,708 3,426,141 324,980 6,178 5 John C. Bedrosian 933,665 2,603,431 220,980 6,178 6 Robert Y. Greenberg 3,467,014 None None 2,569 7 Joseph T. Casey 852,670 2,434,663 None 31,464 8 John J. Silver Jr. 817,222 None 1,053,331 1,395,217 9 Mario F. Kassar 1,250,000 None 931,246 954,978 10 Gil N. Schwartzberg 1,695,192 None 1,337,500 None 11 R. Jeffrey Taylor 757,830 None 1,139,524 752,780 12 Bruce Karatz 1,825,646 None 715,000 15,000 13 Sandy Saemann 2,541,408 None None 2,543 14 Ray R. Irani 2,095,584 None 140,005 215,231 15 Richard K. Eamer 1,879,109 None 532,380 6,000 16 Jules Haimovitz 1,850,113 None None None 17 Richard Pajot 586,218 None 835,184 378,799 18 Kent Kresa 1,125,000 None 614,375 57,024 19 Guy Nafilyan 1,382,850 None 390,000 None 20 William S. Mortensen 483,673 1,192,439 93,302 None 21 Thomas C. Sawicki 562,930 None 587,189 496,580 22 W. Randolph Smith 549,866 None 369,490 717,445 23 David B. Finkel 592,521 None 468,929 423,575 24 Henry Gluck 1,010,739 None 468,750 None 25 James F. Montgomery 1,350,933 None None 92,562 26 Charles N. Sabatino 543,777 None 369,490 509,267 27 Orion L. Hoch 1,336,099 None None 53,915 28 Robert A. Harris 580,739 165,703 None 630,000 29 Andrew G. Vajna 1,250,000 None None 113,133 30 James F. Lyons 1,088,436 None None 252,357 31 David H. Murdock 1,305,000 None None None 32 Charles W. Fries 1,034,816 None None 212,875 33 Brian Grazer 1,221,600 None None None 34 Ron Howard 1,221,600 None None None 35 J. Terrence Lanni 720,585 249,822 250,000 None 36 Wendy L. Simpson 509,527 None 271,997 423,422 37 Bernard Salick 1,065,817 None None 1,995 38 George A. Roberts 819,700 None None 227,163 39 David A. Hentschel 802,739 None 96,462 134,932 40 Raymond F. Henze III 1,032,750 None None None 41 Fred W. O’Green 446,125 None None 571,464 42 Peter M. Hoffman 993,750 None None None 43 John F. Maher 924,849 None None 68,580 44 Aaron Spelling 979,503 None None None 45 Joseph F. Alibrandi 785,308 None 169,333 4,987 46 Gerald M. Stern 778,754 None 81,620 95,530 47 O.C. Davis 817,522 None None 102,310 48 Terry T. Tomich 80,769 545,045 None 282,501 49 Roger W. Norian 570,120 None 209,803 113,462 50 Eli Broad 852,750 None None 39,542
