Compensation Cut for ICN’s Executives

Costa Mesa drug maker ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. cut the compensation, including the bonus and the stock award, of Chief Executive Milan Panic last year after the company’s earnings slumped in 1998, according to a regulatory document.

Most ICN executives were given smaller bonuses and stock grants last year compared to the previous year, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The statement contains information the SEC requires be provided shareholders before they vote on company matters.

Shareholders will meet Dec. 18 to decide, among other items, whether to split ICN into three public companies.

Executive compensation for any year is based on the company’s financial performance the previous year, according to the proxy statement filed this week. Because of the company’s poor performance in 1998, Panic’s base salary remained the same--$701,277--and his bonus was cut to about $413,821 last year, or one-third of his 1998 bonus of $1.3 million, the proxy said.

The company’s earnings picked up this year, and its stock price has improved. The stock lost $1.31 Thursday to close at $33.69 a share, which still amounted to a year-to-date gain of 33%.