Big Drop in Kraft Chief's Total Pay

(MoneyWatch)  Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld's total compensation in 2007 was nearly 40 percent lower than in 2006 -- a far bigger drop proportionally than the declines of Kraft's profits and stock price.

In 2007, the company reported this week, Rosenfeld took home a total of $11.3 million, substantially down from her total compensation of $18.6 million the previous year. The dropoff in salary is even more pronounced when you consider that Rosenfeld started work at Kraft in the middle of 2006. That year, though, the company's stock shot up by about 25 percent, with the lion's share of the gains coming during her tenure.

Things have changed. Though the stock has fallen by only a few dollars since the beginning of 2007, profits are off by 15 percent.

In 2006, Rosenfeld received $675,000 in salary, $12 million in stock and options, and $185,000 in perks, according to company records. On top of that, she got a bonus of about $5.75 million. In 2007, her base salary increased markedly, to $1.38 million. Her perks went up, too ?€" to $385,000. But she got no bonus, and her compensation from stocks and options came to just $7.2 million.

Kraft -- the country's largest food company and second only to Nestle worldwide -- reported earnings of $2.6 billion last year, down from $3.06 billion in 2006. Revenues rose to $37.2 billion from $34.4 billion.