Delta CEO got $11 million for four months

updated 6:35 p.m. ET April 24, 2008

ATLANTA - The chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines Inc., Richard Anderson, received total compensation valued at nearly $11.3 million for the four months he ran the nation's third-largest carrier in 2007, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.

Anderson replaced Gerald Grinstein as Delta's CEO on Sept. 1, 2007.

According to an analysis of the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Anderson received a prorated salary of $200,000 and a performance-based bonus of $289,560.

He did not receive preferential earnings on deferred compensation.

Anderson received stock and option awards the company valued at about $10.6 million on the days they were granted.

Anderson received additional compensation of $237,829 for contributions to a retirement plan,  life insurance premiums, reimbursement of taxes, director fees and and personal benefits such as payment of relocation expenses.

The total compensation came to $11,296,759.

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Delta's stock fell nearly 12 percent during the four months Anderson served as CEO in 2007. It's currently trading at less than half what it was on Dec. 31.

The airline lost $70 million in Anderson's first full quarter as Delta's CEO, which was the fourth quarter of 2007. Delta blamed high fuel prices, and it noted the loss was much smaller than a year earlier, when Delta was in bankruptcy.

Last week, Atlanta-based Delta announced its intention to acquire Northwest Airlines in a stock-swap deal that, if approved by regulators and shareholders, would create the world's largest carrier.

The AP's total pay calculations include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.

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