Facebook's Zuckerberg paid more than $2.47b in 2012

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg scored more than US$2 billion (S$2.47 billion) worth of stock and US$503,000 in base pay last year for running the world's leading social network.

Mr Zuckerberg was also given bonuses that added up to slightly more than US$266,000, according to a Facebook filing on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

He received US$1.22 million in "other compensation," more than half of which was said in the filing to involve the use of chartered aircraft for travel by Mr Zuckerberg and guests as part of a "comprehensive security programme."

Facebook provided US regulators a breakdown of executive compensation and other matters that will be topics at an annual meeting of shareholders set to take place on June 11.

"In the first quarter of 2012, the compensation committee decided to increase the base salaries of our executive officers, other than our CEO," Facebook said in the document.

"Accordingly, our compensation committee increased the base salary of each executive officer, other than our CEO, by US$35,000 or US$40,000."

Mr Zuckerberg has served as chairman of the board at Facebook since the beginning of last year.

His base pay will remain the same this year, while chief operations officer Sheryl Sandberg's was raised to US$340,000, according to the filing. Her bonus last year added up to US$276,730, the paperwork indicated.

Ms Sandberg was paid US$321,000 last year, along with a bonus of US$276,730 and about US$25.6 million worth of stock awards, Facebook told the FTC.

Ms Sandberg's bonus "reflected her leadership in growing our revenue year over year and her strategic guidance in various business matters," the filing said.

Mr Zuckerberg exercised options to acquire 60 million shares of Facebook stock, which were valued at just shy of US$2.28 billion, according to the SEC filing.

He holds 607,599,549 shares of Class B stock in Facebook and another 1,939,987 in Class A shares, the company said in the paperwork.

The SEC in March endorsed a Nasdaq exchange plan to create a US$62 million pool of cash to cover trading losses due to computer glitches that disrupted the launch of Facebook shares onto the market.

The huge electronic market's foul-up marred the US$16 billion Facebook share issue in May, the most hotly awaited initial public offering on the US markets in years.

The stock hit a high of US$45 on the first day, but slid below US$18 in the following weeks. Facebook shares were trading at US$26.85 at the Nasdaq close on Friday.

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