(Bloomberg News) Boston Properties Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mortimer Zuckerman received almost $10 million in total compensation last year, a 23 percent raise that included $1.25 million of new stock-option awards.
Zuckerman, 74, received no option awards in either 2010 or 2009, according to a filing Boston Properties made today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His total compensation was $8.1 million in 2010 and $8.07 million the year before, according to the filing.
All of the top executives at the Boston-based real estate investment trust, the largest publicly traded owner of office buildings by market value, received such stock options in 2011 after receiving none the previous two years. Boston Properties shares rose almost 16 percent last year, the best performance among the 17 members of the Bloomberg REIT Office Property Index, which fell 3.9 percent.
Zuckerman's pay package included $950,000 of base salary, unchanged from 2010; a $2.7 million bonus that rose $150,000; stock awards of $4.82 million, an increase of $446,061; and additional compensation of $276,128, all but $15,015 of which was for a car and driver.
Zuckerman, also chairman of Boston Properties and publisher of the New York Daily News and U.S. News and World Report, ranked 188th on last year's Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.3 billion.
Boston Properties President Doug Linde's total compensation rose 40 percent to $5.38 million. He received $634,500 in option awards and $2.79 million in stock awards, an increase of $836,477 from 2010. His $550,000 base pay was unchanged.
The company focuses on owning top-tier, centrally located office towers in New York, Boston, San Francisco and Washington. Its holdings include New York's General Motors Building and Boston's John Hancock Tower and Prudential Center.
Boston Properties rose 0.6 percent to $104.51 as of 11:39 a.m. in New York trading.