Spin-Off Earns Certegy Exec $13 Million

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services reported it paid former Certegy Inc. CEO Lee Kennedy almost $13 million last year, half of it a bonus for his role in the financial engineering of Fidelity National. Certegy was merged in 2005 into a conglomeration of back-office service providers owned by Fidelity National, then spun off into an independently traded company last fall under Kennedy’s leadership. Kennedy, now president and chief executive of Fidelity National Information earned a $692,308 salary; options worth $3.5 million; $1.5 million from a non-equity incentive plan, among other compensation. Kennedy’s compensation was only exceeded by William Foley, the man who engineered the combination-the-spin-off. Foley earned $16.2 million from Fidelity National Information, but as more than $200 million from the spin off from Fidelity National Title. Foley’s compensation last year included $157 million in gains on his options, which were accelerated because of the deal.