The executive received a base pay of $1 and option awards with a value of $6,414,249 and stock awards valued at $7,040,076, which made up the lion's share of Whitman's compensation.
Whitman's pay was heavily criticized by shareholders especially because of the fact that HP's sales dropped from $127 billion in 2011 to $120 billion in 2012 and the circumstance that the company had to report a loss of $12.7 billion, down from a profit of $7.1 billion in the year before.
One investment firm, GMI/The Corporate Library, rated HP with "Very High Concern" in its executive pay, which HP dismissed stating that "2012 executive pay was far below the vote at the vast majority of companies." Harvard management professor Jay Lorsch criticized Whitman's activities outside of HP, saying that despite her near $16 million pay, she also chose to remain on the board of Procter & Gamble board, which "has the highest number [of] overburdened CEOs of any company in the Standard & Poor's 500."
"This is probably not the kind of board you want for a company that's about to face a crisis," Lorsch said.
