Dell sees his bonus cut by 80%

Everybody likes a bonus, even Michael Dell. But his company paid only

$347,236 in bonuses for 2001 in which the company failed to meet internal sales

and profit objectives. A year earlier. Dell was paid a $1.6 million bonus,

almost twice his annual income of about $900,000 Dell has opted to trade in his

bonus payments for discounted stock options. Not only does he avoid having to

pay the income taxes, but if Dell's stock price increases, he stands to double r

triple the value of the bonus payments.

Dell said that although Dell had performed well against his peers at HP,

Compaq and other direct competitors, the general slump in PC sales caused Dell

to fall quite a bit short on making internal forecasts. In the year that ended

January 31, 2002, Dell's revenue fell slightly to $31.17 billion from $31.89

billion in the year-earlier period. Dell took home $925,962 in salary in fiscal

2002, up from $892,308 a year earlier.

At the end of fiscal 2002, Dell held exercisable options worth $33 million

and unexerciseable options worth $89.6 million. Michael Dell also owns about 12

percent of the company's outstanding shares worth billion so dollars.