Despite $128 Million Loss, InVentiv Bosses Get Big Pay Raises

(MoneyWatch)  InVentiv Health, a network of drug and medical ad agencies, made a loss of $128 million last year after writing down $268 million in goodwill impairments.

Despite that, the company is awarding pay raises for 2009 to its CFO, David Bassin, and its president, Terrell Herring. The disclosure was made in an SEC filing. The filing says:

On March 4, 2009, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of inVentiv approved the following matters:

(i) an increase in the base salary of inVentiv's Chief Financial Officer, David Bassin, from $300,000 to $360,000;

(ii) an increase in the base salary of inVentiv's President, Terrell Herring, from $435,000 to $500,000; and

(iii) an increase in Mr. Herring's discretionary bonus range from 0-100% (50% target) to 0-150% (75% target) of his base salary, and a corresponding amendment of inVentiv's cash bonus plan.

Largesse? Possibly. But the goodwill impairment was a paper loss, and revenues did go up. Except, of course, for the shareholders. They lost real money. VTIV fell from a May high of $35.70 to an end-of-year close at just $11.08. The stock is even lower than that at the time of writing.