Business and Finance

Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz and other top managers will not get base salary raises in fiscal 2009, the coffee chain said in a regulatory filing Thursday.

The move comes as executive pay, which had soared during the housing boom, is being ratcheted back amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The company’s compensation committee said it decided that most of Schultz’s pay should be directly tied to increasing the company’s share price, which currently trades at less than $9 compared with a high of $20.68 about one year ago.

Schultz will not participate in the company’s executive management bonus plan in fiscal 2009. The company said top executives did not receive a bonus payout under its 2008 plans either online payday loans.

Starbucks said it expects to face a "very challenging economic environment throughout fiscal 2009" and said it is difficult to predict the effects that the global financial and economic crises will have on its performance.

"As a result, the Compensation Committee determined that none of the named executive officers will receive a base salary increase for fiscal 2009," the company said in its proxy filing.  

Source