Zuckerman nets $10M in compensation

With better performance comes better compensation for Boston Properties CEO Mortimer Zuckerman. Bloomberg News reported that the billionaire took home nearly $10 million in total compensation in 2011, a hefty 23 percent increase from 2010. The bigger payday comes on the heels of a bigger return for investors, as shares of the largest publicly traded office building owner rose 16 percent.

In fact, Boston Properties, which is currently building a 1 million-square-foot office building on West 55th Street, was the best performer among the 17 real estate investment trusts tracked by Bloomberg, which collectively lost 3.9 percent in value.

Zuckerman’s compensation includes $950,000 in base salary, a $2.7 million bonus, stock awards of $4.82 million, $1.25 million in option awards and additional compensation of more than $275,000. While the base salary remains unchanged from 2010, when his total compensation was $8.1 million, the option award was Zuckerman’s first since 2008 and his bonus and stock awards rose by a total of $600,000.

The real estate executive and New York Daily News publisher is worth $2.3 billion, according to Forbes, placing him among the wealthiest people in the world. [Bloomberg]