Callaway’s Chip Brewer joined the list of high-profile corporate leaders — among them PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan — who have opted to forgo salaries as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc with the global economy.
According to public records, Brewer earned a base salary of $900,000 last year. (His total compensation, including stock incentives, amounted to $5.8 million.) He will forgo any base salary beginning with the next pay period.
Callaway’s 8K filing on March 25 noted that it was “proactively taking actions to significantly reduce costs and conserve cash in order to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on its business.”
The Carlsbad, California-based equipment maker’s filing on Monday also said that other executive officers, including Brian Lynch, executive vice president and chief financial officer, had joined Brewer in voluntarily taking pay cuts of their base salary of 20 percent. Callaway’s board of directors also elected to waive its annual cash retainer fees for 2020. In addition, members of senior management and other employees had their base salaries “reduced in graduated amounts.”
Callaway’s stock price has been slashed in half since February when it was trading for more than $21 per share and closed on April 6 at $10.58.