March 27--Mondelez Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld's compensation was $21 million last year, up about $7 million from a year earlier, thanks to higher incentive pay and changes in the value of her pension.
Mondelez, the maker of Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolate, worked to cut costs and improve margins last year while revenue fell 3 percent.
It announced a restructuring program and a plan to spin its European coffee business into a joint venture. Like other food-makers, Mondelez raised prices to offset higher commodity costs. Plus, like other U.S. companies with a big chunk of business overseas, foreign exchange rates took a bite out of results last year.
Rosenfeld, in the company's proxy filing, said Mondelez expects the environment it operates in "to remain difficult in 2015."
The sentiment has changed since 2012, when Mondelez separated from Kraft Foods Group and was expected to grow at a rapid clip because of its focus on fast-growing snacks along with the potential to expand in emerging international markets. Since then, growth in both snacks and those markets has slowed, putting pressure on the company.
Meanwhile, H.J. Heinz announced a multibillion-dollar plan this week to buy the U.S. focused Kraft Foods, with plans to push its products in international markets.
In 2013, activist investor Nelson Peltz said Mondelez did not generate as much profit as it could and that it should be acquired by PepsiCo. That effort did not move forward, but Peltz got a seat on the Mondelez board in January 2014.
Friday's filing showed that Peltz, the CEO of Trian Fund Management, was one of Mondelez's highest-paid board members. Peltz received $103,889 in cash and $205,451 worth of stock for his board work in 2014.
Rosenfeld's total compensation reached $21,039,946 in 2014, including a $1.6 million salary, and a $5.1 million change in the value of her pension. Her annual incentive award totaled $3.6 million, up from nearly $1.7 million in 2013. Together, Rosenfeld's stock and option awards declined modestly from 2013.
Deerfield-based Mondelez also said it would hold its annual meeting in Skokie on May 20.
Mondelez said it opposed a shareholder proposal seeking a report on the risks associated with using nonrecyclable packaging and a possible timeline on phasing out its use of such packaging. The company responded that it is already working to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging and that producing such a report would not be an effective use of company resources.
jwohl@tribpub.com
