15
theres been a lot of misleading info re exec compensation
the entire subject matter,like everything else, is intended to get eyes off the work zn is doing in zn's effort to create shareholder value- zn officers dont go on drunken joyrides throwing shares into the street
as per other co's exec salaries zn's exec salaries are on the low side as proxy materials show
every discipline has a pay scale-the oil industry is a well paid occupation- I've talked with blue collar ppl who worked on wells and they indicate a very high rate of pay for the blue collar work in the industry
the salary for john brown-EXEC CHAIRMAN- was only 249,000 each of the last 3 years-2016,2017 and 2018
most ppl get benefits from the company they work for-that is normal!!! -and so they get benefits also-if they didnt they would be the only execs in the world who did not!!!!!-so whats the trumped up problem???? for execs that includes expense accounts for travel -thats normal!!
a lot of their pay comes from stock options-note their filings indicate:
1)they've had an agreement since may? 2017 (i believe was before spudding the well june 2017) not to sell their stock (victor gave some as a gift to mostly charities)
and thus the value attributed to stock options-which is apparently the market value at the time the options were given is not the actual amount they received
thus,especially in combination w their agreement since may? 2017 not to sell stock means the execs stock value fell just as much as our stock value -and they didnt actually receive as much as the listed stock value
note -you havent seen any disclosure forms re execs selling any stock have you??? thats bc execs didnt sell any stocks (victors gifts did not accrue to him and theirs determines those rules which i'm sure victor as a lawyer and former judge followed)
so when stock e.g was $4 pps their stock options were apparently valued at pps at time options were granted or if not at the time options were exercised - but the stock has fallen many times since then as we all know and are constantly reminded by the same who shout about exec stock pay-and thus the values listed as compensation will greatly exceed what execs actually received-unless the stock greatly appreciates by the time their self imposed restriction on selling stock expires
so their actual pay -since stock pps has fallen so much is much less than listed-this is of course an incentive to work harder to create stock holder value
due to other matters they have to confront at this point in time these are not just 8-5 jobs either
as zn notes in the proxy materials zn purposefully uses stock options to greatly reduce the companies cash outlay for compensation- this is a normal practice!!! nothing unusual about these things as implied
the only unusual things are:
1)restricting exec's ability to sell any of their stock since may?2017- this restriction i believe was in connection w spudding of the well and logically was part of an attempt to reduce speculation and thus conserve stock holder value
2)in addition to the restriction above,filings indicate general policy prohibiting execs and maybe others from selling over half their stock-something that doesnt even come into play for execs until their self imposed restriction on selling any of their stock expires
the proxy materials emphasize the policy to use options to reduce cash outlays and imply zn will increase their efforts in that regard
-thus instead of increasing salary they might increase stock options- when their self imposed restriction against selling any of their stock is over they may sell some stock into the market just like any stockholder but that is not an expense to ZN
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The following table sets forth the total compensation received for services rendered in all capacities to our Company for the last three fiscal years, which was awarded to, earned by, or paid to our Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice Chairman/President/Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
Name and Principal Position Year Salary Bonus Option awards (1) All OtherCompensation (2)Total
John M. Brown, 2016 249,000 65,000 161,817 99,067 574,884
Executive Chairman
2017
249,000
30,000
239,750
113,669
632,419
2018
249,000
30,000
56,750
111,513
447,263
Victor G. Carrillo,
2016
250,000
50,000
149,569
55,374
504,943
Chief Executive Officer
2017
250,000
137,000
61,542
448,542
2018
166,667
56,750
148,524
371,940
Dustin L. Guinn
2016
125,000
*
176,946
22,478
324,424
Executive Vice Chairman
2017
250,000
171,500
44,147
465,647
President/COO
2018
250,000
56,750
354,764
Michael B. Croswell Jr.
2016
56,250
*
154,062
25,530
236,869
Chief Financial Officer
2017
150,000
1,026
178,200
36,549
364,749
2018
175,000
80,200
43,731
298,931
____________
