Retired Sempra Chief Awarded Higher Bonus

Sempra Energy boosted the 2005 bonus for newly retired Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Baum by 37% to $3 million in part because he settled litigation that could have devastated the company, Sempra said in a government filing.

Baum, who retired as CEO on Dec. 31 and left the chairman’s post a month later, received more than $5 million in total compensation in 2005.

Sempra’s Jan. 4 settlement included a $375-million payment and other concessions and halted a jury trial over charges that the company conspired to limit natural gas supplies during the state’s 2000-01 energy crisis. The settlement is not final, and its stated overall value of $1.7 billion is in dispute.

-- Elizabeth Douglass

* Intel Corp. raised the pay of Paul Otellini by 79% to $9.36 million last year after he became chief executive. Otellini, who took over as CEO in May after serving as president, had his stock option grants tripled to 900,000 shares and his salary and bonus boosted, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel said. The options were valued at $5.91 million.

* Wells Fargo & Co. awarded Chief Executive Richard Kovacevich $21.9 million in compensation for 2005, down 26% from a year earlier, as shares of the San Francisco-based bank lagged behind those of some rivals.