CEO Pay Watch UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Stephen Hemsley, CEO

Total compensation: $66,125,208 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014

Salary: $1,300,000

Non-equity incentive pay: $3,949,000

Other compensation: $107,479

Exercised stock options: $45,569,049

Value realized on vesting shares: $15,199,680

New stock options: 83,918

Total 2014 shareholder return: 36.5 percent

Note: UnitedHealth’s announced acquisition of pharmacy benefit manager Catamaran Corp. for $12.8 billion on March 31 will make Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth the largest company in Minnesota — public or private.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, UnitedHealth had total revenue of $130 billion and net income of $5.6 billion. Revenue grew 6.5 percent for the year but net income dropped 6 million [though earnings per share grew 3.6 percent to $5.70 thanks to share repurchases]. Analysts expect UnitedHealth’s total revenue to increase to $141.5 billion in 2015 and $151.6 billion in 2016.

Hemsley’s base salary of $1.3 million has been the same since 2007. In 2014, he earned a $3.9 million bonus, 27.4 percent higher than in 2013. The bonus includes $3 million for 2014 performance and a $949,000 cash award for financial performance for 2012 through 2014. Hemsley’s short-term cash incentive was 132 percent of target and his long-term cash incentive was 146 percent of the target.

The company’s annual bonus is based two-thirds on financial measures and one-third on stewardship goals. The company hit its targeted revenue goal and was just below targeted levels of operating income and cash flows. The stewardship goals are a mix of customer and physician satisfaction scores, employee engagement and employee teamwork and were chosen because the compensation committee believes they will help drive longer-term financial successes of the company.

In 2014, the company was below the targeted goals for all three measures. It met the threshold levels for customer and physician satisfaction, exceeded the threshold for employee teamwork but was below the threshold for employee engagement.

UnitedHealth’s executive compensation plan is a mix of short-term, medium-term and long-term incentives. The majority of Hemsley’s 2014 compensation, $45.6 million, was from the exercise of stock options initially granted in 2005 and time-based and performance-based restricted stock awards initially granted from 2010 to 2013. Hemsley retained all the shares he acquired from the exercise of options and vesting of restricted shares in 2014.

The options that Hemsley exercised in 2014 were initially granted in 2005 and were the last group of options that were repriced higher as a result of the decade-old option back-dating scandal that ultimately led to the departure of UnitedHealth’s former CEO, Dr. William McGuire.

Hemsley’s overall compensation increased from $28.1 million he took home in 2013, when he realized $9.5 million from stock options he exercised in 2013.

At UnitedHealth’s last annual meeting on June 2, 98.2 percent of shares supported the non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation.

Patrick Kennedy