Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 20, 1992                   TAG: 9203200214
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Medium

$81 MILLION - IS HE WORTH IT?

\ Coca-Cola Co.'s disclosure that its chief executive officer was given a stock package last year currently worth about $81 million comes amid a national uproar over executives' pay.

But analysts Thursday rose to the defense of Roberto Goizueta, who has steered Coke to explosive financial growth since becoming the company's chairman and CEO in 1981.

"There's no question he's worth every penny," said Martin Romm, an analyst who follows the beverage industry for First Boston Corp. in New York.

Coca-Cola said in its proxy statement, mailed to shareholders this week, that Goizueta received 1 million shares of restricted Coke stock under a longstanding reward program for Coke executives. He was the only executive to receive such an award in 1991.

Coke stock closed Thursday at $80.62 1/2 a share.

In addition to the stock package, Goizueta last year made a base salary of $1.06 million, plus bonuses and incentive deals that added about $4 million more.

Executive compensation has been under increased scrutiny in recent months, as studies have shown CEO pay soared proportionately far beyond increases given to most workers. Some CEO's have gotten fat raises even as their companies were losing money.

"That [Goizueta's package] is probably the largest grant I have ever seen. Whether he's worth it is a philosophical question, depending on how you look at it. He has returned to the shareholders many, many times that amount," said William Megginson, an assistant professor of banking and finance at the University of Georgia who specializes in corporate finance.

Proxy statements for other companies also are expected to reveal some big salaries. One already disclosed is that of H.J. Heinz Co. Chairman Anthony O'Reilly, who earned $75.1 million last year, almost entirely from stock options.

Coke officials Thursday declined to comment directly on Goizueta's pay, but spokeswoman Linda Peek noted the company has consistently made handsome profits under his leadership.

"The success record of the company speaks for itself," Peek said. "More than $50 billion have been added to the wealth of Coca-Cola shareholders over the last 10 years, and $22 billion of that in just the last year."

Jesse Meyers, publisher of the industry newsletter Beverage Digest, acknowledged that Goizueta's pay is sure to raise eyebrows, but said it must be viewed in the context of the company's performance.

"There are clearly woeful abuses [of compensation] in companies where market share and profits are declining. And these men are villains who should not be rewarded in the manner they have been rewarded," Meyers said.

"But where a corporation shows greater earnings, profits, return on shares and greater market share, then it's just as much of a sin not to reward the man responsible for it," he said. "If Mr. Goizueta was a commission salesman, they'd owe him a heck of a lot more."

"His initiatives transformed Coca-Cola from an introspective company to a truly global operation," Romm said.