TheStreet CEO Callaway saw 10.8 percent decrease in compensation

David Callaway

TheStreet.com CEO David Callaway was paid 10.8 percent less in 2017 compensation despite the financial news company’s turnaround, according to a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Callaway received $640,236 in compensation last year, down from the $718,859 in compensation he received in 2016.

Callaway became CEO of the company in July 2016. His base salary in 2017, was $507,500, up from the $244,493 in salary that he received for half of the year in 2016.

In 2016, Callaway received a bonus of $61,123 and stock awards worth $363,248. He did not receive a bonus or stock awards in 2017.

He did receive nonequity incentive plan compensation of $128,986 in 2017, up from $43,981 in 2016.

Callaway, formerly the editor in chief at USA Today and MarketWatch.com, has revamped the company’s operation, overhauling the editorial staff and shifting to a paid-content model. The company reported a net profit in 2017, the first time since before the financial crisis.

In November, the company announced that it will pay cofounder Jim Cramer an annual royalty fee no less than $2 million and an annual $300,000 license fee as part of his new four-year contract.

In addition, Cramer will receive 1 million shares of restricted stock that he will receive in quarterly installments during the next four years.

The new contract also requires Cramer not to write articles for another financial news site for 18 months if he leaves TheStreet without first obtaining the company’s consent.

TheStreet’s stock is trading at $1.88, down 2 cents, in Monday trading. It has doubled in the past year.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.