Shareholders Seek to Reign in Huge Countrywide Pay

CALABASAS, Calif. – Stockholders of Countrywide Financial have filed a shareholders referendum aimed at having a say on the huge pay compensation paid to executives and directors, including CEO and co-founder Angelo Mozilo., one of the highest paid executives in the country. The nation’s biggest mortgage bank has filed proxy statements opposed to the move, one of 40 filed by shareholder activists around the country opposed to the exploding executive pay, saying the company has already taken steps to cut Mozilo’s salary and bonus by as much as a fourth this year. Meantime, Mozilo earned $2.2 million Monday by exercising 70,000 options for an average of $9.60 each, then selling the shares for more than $39 each, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The mortgage kingpin has earned more than $80 million so far this year, including more than $70 million through the exercise of options. Mozilo took home more than $120 million last year, and more than $350 million over the past three years.