Payday for Rutledge

Cablevision’s former chief operating officer Tom Rutledge has hit executive pay Powerball, scoring a compensation package worth more than $90 million dollars as the incoming CEO of formerly-bankrupt Charter Communications.

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal why Rutledge abruptly resigned from his position at Cablevision on Dec. 15.  Just four days later, Charter announced Rutledge would become its new CEO this February, replacing Mike Lovett who earlier announced his departure plans.

Rutledge will be extremely well compensated in his new position, scoring $8,000 a week in walk-around money until February when the executive suite opens up.  After that, his base salary will amount to $2 million annually, with yearly increases possible.  But the real money will come from Rutledge’s bonus and incentives package.  In addition to an annual bonus worth up to $3.5 million annually, Rutledge will also get more than one million shares of Charter stock, worth more than $70 million at present.  If Rutledge focuses on boosting that stock price, he could earn considerably more.

That’s a remarkable pay package for a cable company that declared bankruptcy just two years ago.  It’s also a lot more money for Rutledge, who collected just over $28 million at his old job at Cablevision.

In 2010, soon-to-be-former Charter CEO Mike Lovett earned just under $11 million in total compensation.