CEO collects $27.6 million

The Altria Group CEO Martin Barrington was paid $27.6 million in 2016, up 107 percent on his pay for 2015, $13.3 million, according to Reuters story citing a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

CFO William Gifford Jr was paid $8 million in 2016, up 63 percent on his pay for 2015, $4.9 million.

Last year, Altria’s cigarette shipments were down by 2.5 percent, but shipments of cigars and smokeless tobacco were increased by 5.9 percent and 4.9 percent respectively.

In presenting the results for 2016, Barrington said the company had had another “outstanding year”.

“We grew our earnings in line with our long-term objectives while returning a large amount of cash to shareholders, improving our balance sheet and strengthening our organizational capability, thus positioning Altria to continue to deliver on our long-term financial goals,” he said.

“In 2016, Altria’s total return to shareholders of 20.5 percent outpaced both the S&P 500 and the S&P Food, Beverage and Tobacco Index, marking the fourth consecutive year that total shareholder return exceeded 20 percent.

“During the year, we also rewarded our shareholders by paying out over $4.5 billion in dividends, raising our dividend by eight percent, and repurchasing over $1 billion of our shares under an expanded $3 billion share repurchase program.

“And with Altria’s support of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s landmark business combination with SABMiller, we enhanced the value of our beer investment and our position in the global brewing profit pool.”