Accepting an annual salary of $1 has become a popular way for CEOs to say “I don’t get paid, unless you get paid” to shareholders. Members of the $1 club have included Jerry Yang, Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs. The latest member is Rob Glaser, CEO of RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK). He might be more of a provisional member though. In a filing made on Friday, Real says Glaser’s base salary for 2008 has been set at $1, but that his pay is actually targeted at $500,000, assuming the company hits certain revenue and EBITDA targets. For Glaser to get any bonus, the company will need to hit 90 percent of its revenue target, and 50 percent of its EBITDA target. For comparison, Glaser’s base salary in 2007 was $460,000, according to the last proxy. As for the company’s targets, in May, Real said it expected 2008 revenue of $628-$648 million and adjusted EBITDA of $62-$74 million.
There’s also one other cost Real shareholders will have to pay no matter what: up to $1 million is being allocated to reimburse Glaser for travel aboard a private jet.
So essentially nothing changes and he is just doing this to fool the investors. And of course, putting all this money in that private jet.
He IS the investor…if RNWK had any serious external investors they'd be all over the BOD for the dismal stock (lack of) performance over the past 5 years.