Compaq pays Pfeiffer to call PC tune

Compaq?s continued worldwide domination of the PC market was reflected in CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer?s pay packet last year ? whereas IBM chief executive Lou Gerstner took a substantial salary cut.

Gerstner?s salary stood at $2 million in 1995, but this came down to $1.5 million in 1996. But at the same time, Gerstner?s annual bonus increased from $2.8 million to $3.3 million, almost wiping out his $500,000 pay cut.

Pfeiffer saw his pay cheque grow last year, as did Compaq?s share of the PC market. In 1996, Pfeiffer took home some $4.25 million, up from the $3.63 million he received the year before.

But the real earning potential of both industry figures is found in their share options.

Compaq?s own estimates show that Pfeiffer either owns or has options on 1.4 million Compaq shares. Based on recent share prices, this represents a value of approximately $109 million.

By comparison, the 181,000 shares that Gerstner has in IBM are estimated to be worth about $23.9 million.

• IBM is expected to break into the Apple portable market by incorporating the Mac operating system into a notebook PC.
• The hybrid machine ? which is now in development ? will use the latest release of the Mac OS running on an IBM notebook with the 240MHz Power PC 630e chip that powers the Apple 3400 Powerbook.
• Dataquest estimated that the machine would allow IBM to snatch from 30 to 40 per cent of Apple?s share of the notebook market. The research company blamed problems that Apple has with meeting demand.