Enron Tripled Lay's Pay to $18.3 Mln in 2000, Proxy Shows Houston, March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Enron Corp. more than tripled Chairman and former Chief Executive Ken Lay's pay package last year to $18.3 million following Enron's best share performance in at least 20 years. Enron, the world's biggest energy trader, also gave Jeffrey Skilling, the company's president and chief operating officer, who became chief executive last month, a $10.1 million pay package, more than double 1999's $4.02 million package. Lay made $5.97 million in 1999, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lay also received options to buy 782,830 Enron shares over seven years, most at $47.31 each. Those in-the-money shares would be worth $17.6 million if he could exercise them at today's price. Skilling received options to buy 867,880 shares, with 358,975 of them at $47.31 a share and almost all the rest at $66.13 a share. Those shares would be worth $10.2 million if he could exercise them at today's price. Lay had gains of $123.4 million from the exercise of options in 2000, the filing said. Skilling gained $62.5 million from exercising options last year, the proxy statement said. Enron's 2000 profits rose primarily on its commodity sales and services businesses. Power and natural gas prices soared last year, with the main natural-gas contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange more than quadrupling. Last year was also the first full year of operations for Enron Online, the company's Internet marketplace. The site, which trades 1,200 commodities, had 548,000 transactions valued at $336 billion in 2000. Shares of Houston-based Enron rose more than 87 percent in 2000. Net income rose 10 percent to $979 million for the year, as revenue more than doubled to cross the $100 billion mark. Shares have fallen 16 percent so far this year. Enron rose $1.51 to $70.19. Enron's proxy statement also said the company would ask shareholders to authorize increasing the amount of the company's common stock to 2.4 billion shares from 1.2 billion if the company declares at least at 2-for-1 stock split by May 1, 2003. Enron most recently declared 2-for-1 stock splits in February 1999 and May 1998. Enron Executives Sold $73 Mln in Stock Before Shares Plunged Houston, March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Ten top executives at Enron Corp., the largest energy trader, sold more than $73 million in stock in December and January, ahead of a 23 percent decline in the shares in February and March. Chairman Ken Lay and President Jeffrey Skilling, who became chief executive officer in February, together sold stock valued at more than $17.6 million, according to the Washington Service, which tracks insider stock sales and purchases. The executives, who declined to comment, exercised stock options that would have expired worthless otherwise, Enron spokesman Mark Palmer said. Enron's stock fell amid a setback in the company's fiber-optic business, falling natural-gas prices and concern about the effect of California's energy crisis on its trading business, analysts said. The sales may be another sign that Enron, after a long period of success, may be stumbling, analysts and investors said. ``We didn't see a lot of upside for the stock,'' said Timothy Ghriskey, a fund manager at Dreyfus Corp., which owns funds that sold about 1.55 million Enron shares at the end of last year. Mellon still holds about 5.23 million Enron shares. Mellon sold because of ``high valuations, the run in the price of natural gas and the fact that we thought their expectations were too high,'' Ghriskey said. A Good Year Enron's shares rose 87 percent last year because of soaring profits from energy trading, rising gas and power prices, and its expansion into fiber optics. Enron owns a 32,000-mile network of U.S. gas pipelines, and is the biggest competitor in the business of arranging sales and purchases of gas and electricity. Skilling told analysts on Jan. 25 that Enron shares should continue to climb. He valued the stock at $126 a share, 54 percent more than the price that day. Instead of rising, shares of the Houston-based company have fallen 26 percent this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 4.1 percent, while the Standard & Poor's Index of 500 industrial stocks is down 8 percent. Enron shares have declined along with gas prices, which are down 49 percent from a record high in December, and the dimming prospects of the company's fiber-optic business. The stock fell 11 percent yesterday after the collapse on Friday of an agreement with Blockbuster Inc. to deliver movies-on- demand over Enron's fiber-optic system. Shares rose 78 cents to $62.05 today after touching a 52-week low of $60.53. Enron Broadband Services, a unit set up to build Enron's fiber-optics system and sell space on networks owned by others, isn't profitable. The unit reported a fourth-quarter loss of $32 million on revenue of $63 million. Surging Revenue While energy trading has boosted Enron's earnings, the fiber- optic business was responsible for much of the increase in the stock price last year, analysts said. ``They really have to post the numbers and show that the broadband business is going somewhere,'' said Andre Meade, U.S. utility analyst with Commerzbank Securities, who has a ``hold'' rating on Enron shares. Revenue more than doubled to $100.8 billion last year on the strength of its energy-trading operations, making Enron the second- largest U.S. energy company, behind Exxon Mobil Corp. Enron earned $1.26 billion from continuing operations last compared with $957 million in the year-earlier period. EnronOnline, an Internet-trading site started in November 1999, helped boost revenue. The site offers 1,200 types of commodity products and handled transactions valued at $336 billion in 2000. The company has profited from electricity and gas price swings in California and the rest of the U.S. this summer and winter. Enron has signed energy-management contracts with companies such as Owens-Illinois Inc. and International Business Machines Corp., designed in part to lock in low energy prices for the companies. Services Threatened California, the most-populous U.S. state, has negotiated five- to 20-year contracts to buy power for its three largest publicly traded utilities. ``If these contracts are signed, there will be less volatility in the market, and the customers aren't going to need'' Enron's electricity services as much, Meade said. Enron also may lose in India, where its Dabhol Power Co. venture faces a cash crisis with creditors. The power producer's sole customer, the local state electricity board, has defaulted on payments totaling $71.3 million. The company is expected to earn 44 cents a share in the first quarter, based on the average estimate of nine analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. A year earlier, Enron reported profit from operations of $253 million, or 34 cents a share, and net income of $338 million, or 40 cents. Of the 22 analyst ratings on Enron listed by Bloomberg, 18 rate the company as a ``buy.'' Only A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., Sanders Morris Harris Inc., Commerzbank Securities and Merchant Securities have ``hold'' ratings. Big Sellers Enron executives who sold more than $3 million in stock in December and February are: -- Lay, who sold 84,714 shares from Jan. 2 to Jan. 31 for $68.28 to $82 each, or more than $5.78 million. Lay also sold 80,680 shares from Dec. 1 to Dec. 29 for $67.19 to $84.06 each, or more than $5.42 million. The sales total $11.2 million. -- Skilling, who sold 50,000 shares from Jan. 3 to Jan. 31 for $68.94 to $80.28 each, or more than $3.45 million. He also sold 20,000 shares from Dec. 20 to Dec. 27 for $79.03 to $83 each, or more than $1.58 million, and 20,000 shares from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13 for $68.91 to $77.06, or $1.38 million. The sales total $6.41 million and brought Skilling's holdings to 1.31 million shares. -- Mark Frevert, Enron Wholesale Services chairman and chief executive, who sold 180,000 shares from Dec. 18 to Dec. 20 for $79 to $79.98 each, or more than $14.2 million. The sale brought his holdings to 223,771 shares. -- Cliff Baxter, Enron vice chairman and chief strategy officer, who sold 174,215 shares from Jan. 2 to Jan. 31 for $69.44 to $81.31 each, or more than $12.10 million. The sale brought his holdings to 7,877 shares. -- Ken Rice, chairman and chief executive of Enron Broadband Services Inc., sold 32,000 shares from Jan. 3 to Jan. 31 for $68.19 to $82 each, or more than $2.18 million. Rice also sold 100,000 shares on Dec. 13 for $76.69 each, or $7.67 million. The sales total $9.85 million and brought Rice's holdings to 113,127 shares. -- Steve Kean, Enron executive vice president and chief of staff, sold 77,822 shares on Jan. 31 for $79.84 to $80 each, or more than $6.21 million. The sale brought his holdings to 26,363 shares. -- Stanley Horton, chairman and chief executive of Enron Gas Pipeline Group and EOTT Energy Partners-LP, sold 25,000 shares Jan. 29 for $80.51 each, or $2.01 million, and 25,000 shares Dec. 27 for $80.96 each, or $2.02 million. The sales total $4.04 million and brought his holdings to 144,217 shares. -- Richard Buy, Enron executive vice president and chief risk officer, sold 47,724 shares from Jan. 2 to Jan. 26 for $81.90 to $82 each, or $3.91 million. The sale brought his holdings to 9,257 shares.
