Check Point CEO Gil Shwed exercises $32.5 million worth of options in 2020, down by $7 million from previous year
The Israeli cybersecurity giant has registered relative stagnation in its sales over recent years, with its shares climbing 10% over the past 12 months, while the Nasdaq index surged by 70%
Check Point co-founder and CEO Gil Shwed exercised options valued at $32.5 million in 2020, the company's annual report to the U.S. SEC has revealed. According to the cybersecurity giant, Shwed, who founded Check Point jointly with Marius Nacht and Shlomo Kramer in 1993 and has managed it ever since, is remunerated almost entirely via options, receiving no bonus and only the minimum legal wage in Israel.
Shwed was allocated an additional 500,000 share options on August 3, 2020 at their then price of $110 (shares are currently being traded at around $113), and in addition, the company's executives and directors also received a total of one million share options at the time. Shwed total remuneration reached a little under $33 million in 2020, seven million less than it did the previous year. Dorit Dor, VP of Products and the number 2 executive at Check Point who joined the company in 1995, exercised options valued at $4.5 million, while CFO Tal Payne, exercised options valued at $4.9 million, while also receiving a salary and compensation of $572,000.
Check Point CEO Gil Shwed. Photo: Yair Sagi
Check Point has registered relative stagnation in its sales over recent years, with its market cap currently at $15.9 billion. The company's shares climbed 10% over the past 12 months, while the Nasdaq index surged by 70%. Check Point's sales rose only 3.5% during the past year, which was a record year for cybersecurity due to the pandemic, reaching $2.06 billion. According to the company's report, its slowest growth was registered in the Americas, reaching $929.8 million in revenue, a rise of 1.3% year-on-year. In Europe, the Middle East and Asia it experienced growth of 4.8% for sales of $891.4 million, while in the Asia Pacific region it saw growth of 4.9% for sales of $243.7 million.
The company employed 5,198 people as of the end of 2020, a slight increase from the 5,152 it employed at the end of the previous year.
