Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman's compensation declined 33 percent last year because of the company's failure to meet promised profit and performance targets, according to a filing on Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Oberhelman still took home nearly $15 million in total compensation in 2013, according to the SEC filing, more than half of it in the form of stock options awards.

Oberhelman was hardly the only employee at Caterpillar to take a pay cut in 2013, and like a lot of workers with the company, he knew it was coming.