Every officer at Inuvo Inc. (Nasdaq: INUV) of Little Rock saw their pay decline slightly in 2019, according to an annual proxy statement the company filed this week with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
In addition, on April 29 and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Inuvo’s board implemented a temporary pay cut for certain employees with salaries in excess of $100,000 per year.
Effective on May 1, those employees were required to give up a specified percentage of their salary ranging from 7%-50%. Each employee was also granted restricted stock unit awards, an incentive for taking the pay cut.
Three executives who took a pay cut were:
- Chairman and CEO Richard Howe, who will have a temporary salary of $212,500;
- CFO Wallace Ruiz ($200,750); and
- COO Don “Trey” Barrett III ($200,000).
According to the proxy, Inuvo’s management team expects this temporary pay cut to reduce ongoing expenses.
This follows a year where all three of the men saw their total compensation decline.
In 2019, Howe’s total compensation dropped to $485,813 from $708,897 the previous year. His compensation included a $379,073 salary, down from $425,000, and $102,460 in stock awards, down from $272,897.
Ruiz saw his 2019 total compensation drop to $306,315 from $383,463. His compensation included a $262,625 salary, down from $275,000, and $36,490 in stock awards, down from $97,463.
Barrett saw his total compensation drop to $292,616 from $386,171. His compensation included a $240,625 salary, down from $250,000, and $49,372 in stock awards, down from $129,951.
A virtual-only stockholders’ meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Sept. 10.
Attendees will vote on the re-election of Charles Morgan — CEO and chairman of privately held First Orion Corp. in North Little Rock and the former, longtime CEO of Acxiom — as a director; the reappointment of Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. as Inuvo’s accounting firm; and doubling the number of authorized shares of Inuvo’s common stock to 200 million.
The company said the additional shares could be used to raise public or private funds, acquire other companies, expand and more, but it has “no specific plans or agreements at this time with respect to any additional acquisitions or financing transaction.”
Inuvo said, too, that issuing additional shares could lower its stock price, which was 60 cents Friday afternoon.
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