If you’re judged by the company you keep, James Tobin, the CEO of Natick-based stents colossus Boston Scientific Corp. might want to skip this month’s copy of Forbes.
In the business magazine’s annual CEO compensation survey, Tobin is grouped with General Electric boss Jeffrey Immelt and Bank of America’s Ken Lewis as one of the “most overpaid” CEOs in business.
And Boston Scientific hasn’t even asked for a bailout from Congress.
The dubiousness ranking is compiled by Forbes using metrics based on total compensation for the current fiscal year (salary, bonuses, stock options, etc.) and an efficiency ranking based on company’s performance during a six-year period, according to the magazine. Tobin’s efficiency ranking was 176, only three notches below the lowest score the magazine doled out.
According to Forbes‘ calculations, Boston Scientific posted an overall return of -14 percent over the last six years and a total return of -7 percent during Tobin’s tenure. Even so, Tobin took home $8.6 million in total compensation last year, slightly less than the $9 million he earned in 2007.
And, as MassDevice reported last month, he also received a generous 2008 stock grant of 2 million shares — valued at around $16 million.
On the overall compensation list, Tobin came in 286th out of 500. At least one of Boston Scientific’s chief competitors, Abbott Laboratories, and its CEO Miles White cracked the top 50.
Other local medical device bosses making the 500 highest paid CEOs list include Marijn Dekkers of Thermo Fisher Scientific, who came in 162nd.