Categories: OLD Media Moves

TheStreet to pay new CEO a $500,000 salary

David Callaway, the new chief executive officer of TheStreet.com, will receive a base annual salary of $500,000, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday.

Callaway, who has been editor in chief of USA Today for the past four years, was named CEO on Thursday. He will start in early July.

Callaway is also eligible to receive a bonus of up to 50 percent of his salary, according to the filing. His is also receiving an option to purchase 1 million shares of TheStreet stock, with one-third of those shares vesting after his first year at he company and the rest vesting during the next two years.

The new CEO would receive $500,000 in salary if the company decided to terminate him without cause, according to his contract. In addition, Callaway would be prevented from competing with the company for a period of six months after his termination date or soliciting its employees, clients or vendors for a period of one year after his termination date.

The former CEO, Elisabeth DeMarse, received a base salary of $480,000.

TheStreet’s shares fell 2 cents to $1.23 on Friday. The company has been struggling to remain profitable and show revenue growth.

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.