U.S. market operator Nasdaq OMX Group's board said it had trimmed executive
bonuses to make up for Facebook's botched debut as a public company.
Facebook's initial public stock offering or IPO last May was met with a delayed
start, missed transaction messages -- so brokers did not know if their deals had
gone through -- and a period in which orders had to be filled by hand due to
errors in the electronic system.
The New York Times reported Friday Nasdaq categorized the errors as "systems
issues."
"We failed to meet our own high standards based on our long history of providing
outstanding technology to our members and exchange customers," CEO Robert Greifeld said at the time in apology.
In a regulatory filing, Nasdaq's board said it had cut Greifeld's 2012 bonus by
62 percent to $1.35 million and executive vice president of global technology
solutions Anna Ewing's bonus by 53 percent to $574,125, citing problems with
Facebook's IPO.
In the previous year, Greifeld's bonus came to $3.59 million. In the filing, it
is referred to as the executives, "non-equity incentive plan compensation."
His total pay for 2012 came to $8.9 million, the Times said.
The filing specifically said members of the board, "explicitly considered the
Facebook IPO in connection with their review and determination of these reduced
payouts."
