Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the world's top brewer, trimmed its chairman's salary and bonus when he left the chief executive officer post last year, and rewarded its new chief executive with a raise.

Chairman August A. Busch III, 65, was paid a salary of $900,000 in 2002, which included a new salary level after handing over the CEO position to Patrick Stokes, 60, in July 2002. Busch's salary was almost $1.2 million the year before and his bonus dropped to $2.7 million in 2002 from $3.3 million the year before, Anheuser-Busch said in its annual proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

He also received options for 1 million shares, down from options for more than 1.08 million shares he got in 2001. Stokes, who is now president and CEO, was paid a salary of $1.325 million in 2002, up from less than $1.1 million a year earlier, when he led the company's U.S. beer unit.

The options Stokes got in 2002 could be worth as much as $107.7 million if the company's stock price rises 10 percent a year over the life of the options, the company estimated.

The options, which can be exercised for $49.91 per share, expire in November 2012.

Shares of Anheuser-Busch were up 22 cents at $46.54 in afternoon (March 11) trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company also told shareholders it paid its outside auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, $10.3 million in fees for audit, tax and other services in 2002. (Reuters)

12 March, 2003