AmerisourceBergen CEO’s pay up 3% in ’09

The president and CEO of drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp. received a compensation package valued at $5.5 million in 2009, up 3 percent from the year before, according to Associated Press calculation of figures filed with regulators Tuesday.

The Chesterbrook-based company said R. David Yost's salary rose by 4 percent, to $1.2 million, and his performance-based cash bonus grew 11 percent to $3 million. However the value of his stock and options on the dates they were granted dropped 16 percent to $1.1 million.

The value of Yost's other compensation edged up 3 percent to about $134,000. Most of that total came from his supplemental 401(k) plan, which was valued at about $93,000.

Yost, 62, has been AmerisourceBergen's CEO since 2001, and its president since September 2007.

For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the company's operating profit grew 7 percent due to lower expenses and better profit margins. Revenue rose 2 percent to $71.76 billion.

The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation, and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals that companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.