MINNEAPOLIS — Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson will get stock awards worth almost $13.6 million beginning next year for closing the carrier's buyout of Northwest Airlines, according to new filings.
Employees of Delta Air Lines Inc., including their new co-workers from Northwest, are also getting stock.
Atlanta-based Delta had said previously it would hand out about 15 percent of its shares to various employees, including almost 10 percent to the rank-and-file. Another 3.5 percent is going to about 700 officers, directors and managers.
The filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday were the first disclosure of who would get what:
• Anderson will get 760,000 restricted shares, worth almost $8.6 million based on Delta's share price at midday Monday.
• He also gets options on 1.52 million shares at an exercise price of $7.99 per share — Delta's closing share price on Wednesday, just before the Northwest deal closed. With Delta shares trading at $11.28 at midday Monday, those options could give him a profit of $5 million if they could be exercised right away. However, Anderson has to stay with Delta to get the shares and options, with the first 20 percent vesting on May 1, 2009, and the last 40 percent vesting on Nov. 1, 2011.
• Delta President Ed Bastian, who is also running Northwest now, will get restricted shares worth $5.3 million and options worth a profit of almost $3.1 million based on Monday's share price. His awards vest on the same schedule as Anderson's.
• Delta pilots are getting about 5.9 percent of the company's shares, with other Delta workers getting a total of about 4 percent. Workers will get their shares on Tuesday and can trade them right away, Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said. She said a worker who makes $40,000 a year would get $6,100 worth of shares before taxes, if the shares were trading at $11 each.
Delta closed its stock-swap acquisition of Northwest on Wednesday. It's now operating Northwest as a subsidiary, but plans to adopt the Delta brand across the whole operation over the next two years.