Mossimo’s Chief Wears New Title--at 40% Off

A Visionary, it appears, is worth less than a CEO.

At least that’s the reality at Irvine-based Mossimo Inc., where the going rate for the talents of founder Mossimo Giannulli, the self-anointed Visionary--yes, that’s his real title--is $300,000 a year.

The amount represents a 40% pay cut from 1997, when Giannulli was still chief executive, earning $500,000.

Giannulli’s pay was disclosed in the apparel designer’s annual proxy statement filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the proxy, Giannulli, 34, voluntarily reduced his salary in January, when turnaround specialist John Brincko was brought on board to help stabilize the deeply troubled company.

Giannulli handed over the management reins and titles of chief executive and president to Brincko last month. The same day, the company reported a loss for 1997 of $18.7 million on a 35% slump in sales to $70.9 million.

During the year, the price of Mossimo’s New York Stock Exchange-traded stock lost more than two-thirds of its value, falling from $12.63 a share to $3.56.

The once-high flying Mossimo stumbled when it attempted to make the transition from a designer of beach and casual apparel sold in surf shops and specialty stores to an upscale designer of men’s and women’s wear sold in department stores.

Brincko stands to make $765,000 in consulting fees this year, the proxy states. His contract also calls for him to receive stock options to buy as much as 100,000 shares of Mossimo stock at recent prices. If he manages to turn the company around and the stock rises, he could make a nice profit.

As the owner of 69.1% of Mossimo’s common stock, Giannulli has seen the value of his shares plummet from more than $500 million two years ago when they traded at $50 apiece, to about $52 million on Monday when the stock closed at $4.94 a share.