SEC reveals Moore's multimillion-dollar EA deal

Documents show executive will get $1.5M signing bonus, $330K in moving expenses, $550K in base pay, up to $412,500 in annual bonuses, and 400,000 stock options.

Whenever a publicly traded company hires an executive with a massive compensation package, it must file documents outlining its offer with the Securities and Exchange Commission by law. So when Electronic Arts today announced it had lured Peter Moore away from his gig as corporate vice president at Microsoft, many industry watchers began snooping around EA's SEC filing in order to root out details.

The results did not disappoint. According to an 8-K form filed with the SEC this afternoon, the 52-year-old Moore will receive "a one-time bonus of $1,500,000 (minus applicable taxes) in recognition of the future compensation value he would be foregoing [sic] by leaving his position at Microsoft." Though the bonus is technically for his first two years as president of EA Sports, he will receive it in the next 30 days. If he leaves EA before July 17, 2009, he will have to repay a prorated amount.

Moore will also receive $330,000 in moving expenses which will have to be repaid in full if he leaves EA before one year. But, given Moore's pay package, that would seem unlikely. He will receive $550,000 in base annual salary and a "target" of $412,500 in annual bonuses--meaning he could potentially earn $962,500 every year before taxes, if EA only grants him the "target" bonus. However, many companies also issue bonuses in excess of said targets, meaning Moore could irreconcilably make even more.

According to the 8-K filing, the publisher also offered Moore "a stock option to purchase 350,000 shares of the company's common stock" as well as 50,000 restricted stock shares. Some 24 percent of the first batch of the stock will vest after the first year of Moore's hire, with the remainder vesting at 2 percent per month going forward. The restricted stock will vest 50 percent after two years, with the other 50 percent vesting four years after the executive's hire date.

Moore's stock options were issued under the terms of EA's 2000 Equity Incentive Plan. The plan expressly says the exercise price of that batch of stock will be the "fair market value" of said stock when the shares were issued. EA's share price ended the day on the NASDAQ at $49.47, which would have been his strike price were he hired today. Moore's first day is on September 17, meaning that the closing price on that day will be his strike price. That means when means when Moore's options vest, the company's share price must be higher than the market-close price on September 17 for the executive to be able to sell his stock at a profit.

197 Comments

  • ghoffbad83

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 4:42 pm PT

    Its pretty complicating Im confused but i guess that guy has more money than he needs and he jus wants mo money$$$

  • UltraZero

    Posted Jul 21, 2007 3:35 pm PT

    $1.5 mil just for signing! No wonder he quitted

  • Lobezno_D

    Posted Jul 20, 2007 12:49 pm PT

    All that absurd amount of money...such a waste.

  • danalfmon

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 5:22 pm PT

    He is probably singing. Money Money Money.

  • NWA_31

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 2:04 pm PT

    Ka-ching ! Hehe...

    Anyway, I hope this means games of much higher quality from EA...

  • Samurai_Budgie

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 12:56 pm PT

    I want his job..... I promise good sports games!!!! Somebody? Anybody?

  • 99X

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 12:50 pm PT

    $330,000 in moving expenses... What in the world is he moving? that seems a little excessive.

  • tgrace

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 10:52 am PT

    EA must really think he is the man to pay him a salary like that.

  • digi_dragon324

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 10:45 am PT

    damn i want more money from my job too. i should try and get into the game industry like this guy.

  • zilcher

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 10:01 am PT

    EA must have been impressed with his performance with Rock Band at E3. I wasn't. He hit pause by mistake twice.

  • solidsnake2525

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 9:41 am PT

    All he needs now is a Hefty sized bag with a dollar sign on it.

  • shadow8585

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 7:55 am PT

    BALLIN'!!!!!

  • jknight5422

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 7:00 am PT

    This is lame. He's already been rewarded a ton of cash, what is his incentive to do anything for EA??? He'll probably trash the company & then retire after that. He has to sign non-disclosure agreements with Mr. Softy on the way out so it isn't like he has any info he can legally share with EA/Sony, etc.

  • boobush

    Posted Jul 19, 2007 6:11 am PT

    It doesn't matter how much he gets paid, as long as we agree on who cares.

  • lewser5

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 10:26 pm PT

    How much will this effect Sony relationship with EA now?

  • kslay88

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 10:00 pm PT

    damn moore is a baller now

  • Wolverine77

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 8:56 pm PT

    hmm, i hope xbox's new pres is as good as the last one.

    bigpimppapa, serioiusly, chill dude. Just because someone is more successful then you doesnt mean you need to start pirating. And honestly, drop the caps lock, you just look like a ranting moron.

  • chunkybloodfart

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 8:43 pm PT

    I hope this doesn't have a biased effect on the Sony-EA relationship.

  • wakko19991

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 5:55 pm PT

    see this is why my games cost so much...LOL

  • JoeSSJ3

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 5:54 pm PT

    Well its easy to see why he switched, look at all that money,

    big, tone down the caps lock, and if you're still using bearshare.. why?!

  • MadFaxer

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 3:08 pm PT

    OK a couple of points:

    1) First of all let's round his base salary and say he makes $600,000. That is roughly 10,000 copies worth of games (minus taxes and retailers like if EA was selling the games directly of course). That isn't much at all compared to how many copies of Madden gets sold each year...(and that's just one franchise).

    2) Peter Moore wasn't even around Microsoft for that long. I mean I still remember when the ball headed guy and the real scrawny guy were the head of Xbox! Do ya'll remember that? I think one or both went to work on Zune...but they just dissappeared. I mean it wasn't up until after the MTV 360 special that Moore was brought to Xbox from Sega...Out of nowhere!!

    I think Moore is awesome, he did a great job for Xbox and he will be missed. I would have never thought 10 years ago that Microsoft would have developed sucha great team for Xbox. I The person replacing Moore has som BIG shoes to feel, lol.

  • manolobrown2

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 3:03 pm PT

    its all about the money guys!

  • bigpimppapa posted Jul 18, 2007 2:52 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    bigpimppapa

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 2:52 pm PT (hide)

    CORN---------DOG

    IF THERE WAS A WAY I COULD DOWNLOAD AND BURN GAMES FROM BEAR SHEAR IT WOULD BE DONE YOU LIKE TO GET RIPPED OFF BY CORPORATE AMERICA SO PAY YOUR TAXES AND TOUCH YOUR ANKLES FOR GOOD OLD UNCLE SAM DID YOU EVER HEAR OF PETER MOORE DONATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OR THE ARMED SERVICES I NEVER READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT THAT BUT I READ HE HAS A GAME TATTOO OF GTA WHAT IS THAT ABOUT HOW OLD IS THIS WALKING BILLBOARD

  • chaos_theory_09

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 2:36 pm PT

    I like Peter Moore but I bet he got sick of trying to explain the hardware failure of the 360 so he took this deal.

  • speznaz07

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 2:11 pm PT

    Honestly, i would have thoughts that the compensation package would have been higher.

  • Redsyrup

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 1:46 pm PT

    Another grossly over paid executive. I wonder what EA's thinking??

  • PSP-topher

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 1:37 pm PT

    $$$$$$$$$$$$$ chaching

  • steven141

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 1:34 pm PT

    wow that a lot of money

  • qmoney88

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 1:24 pm PT

    i believe that microsoft told him he had to leave and ea saw this as an opportunity to pick him up, as micro probably wssnt too pleased with his decision making skills regarding the failure rate of the 360 and the warranty extension, which only further prolongs microsofts wait to start seein some profits from their system

  • hoverboy

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 12:19 pm PT

    @bigpimppapa:

    Uhhh...... what?

  • blacktorn

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 12:18 pm PT

    Do we really need to know all this?

    P.S. Moore is 52?!? :0 What's his secret!

  • Agreb91

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 12:14 pm PT

    Moore did this for the money no doubt.

  • Taegre

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 11:50 am PT

    HOLY S*** that's a lot! It's definitely good for Moore, and hence good for their sports division. But the bad news is that if EA can do this, and they grabbed the very figurehead of the 360, will they grab anyone else from Sony or Nintendo?

  • Dr_Corndog

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 11:30 am PT

    bigpimppapa:

    You're obviously a gamer. If you think they're overcharging us for games, why do you continue to buy them? If you have a problem with the money that gaming executives make, then why do you support them by buying their games?

  • bigpimppapa posted Jul 18, 2007 11:23 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    bigpimppapa

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 11:23 am PT (hide)

    THIS PROVES WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL THE LONG, WHICH i WILL NOT SAY CAUSE THE MODS ARE ALWAYS ATTACKING MY POST. BUT. GAME IS ONLY WORTH .10 PERIOD LOOK AT ALL THE PROFIT THE BIG SHOTS ARE MAKING AS WELL AS STOCK OPTIONS THIS IS NOT A GAME IT IS WHO CAN GRAB THE MOST CASH PERIOD . ASK YOURSELF WHAT A POLICE OFFICER OR A REAL LIFE MILITARY TROOP MAKES, THEY DON'T GET A CRUMB COMPARED TO THE GUYS WHO SIT IN THE AIR CONDITIONED OFFICE OVER CHARGING US FOR GAMES

  • WillT12345

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 11:22 am PT

    "willripyouanew1 I'm sure this is still a paycut from whatever he was making back at Microsoft."

    Now why on earth would someone take a new job at a pay cut? I could see maybe if you were totally changing industries, but this is still games. On top of that isn't MS rated one of the best companys to work for, and EA one of the worst? I'm sure he was offered more than he was making at MS.

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 11:19 am PT

    How do these people sleep at night. I mean I would feel mighty guilty knowing I cant go out and buy the "standard" Mircrosoft Money (the one for "poor" people) because I make so damn much money that it wont fit in the little boxes, I have to get MS Money Bling, the version for rich people

  • Berserker_2

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 10:52 am PT

    Good point Lancer IV.

  • madman666

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 10:36 am PT

    all money he's getting they should use to improve Madden, instead of rehashing everything

  • willripyouanew1

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 10:16 am PT

    I'm sure this is still a paycut from whatever he was making back at Microsoft.

  • VFA-102

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 10:01 am PT

    Since I'm not a big EA fan, I will miss seeing him do Microsoft Press confrences. He was a great front man for the 360.

  • unbreakable4534

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:48 am PT

    He was a great frontman for Microsoft, maybe he can change some things about EA Sports, they need a makeover.

  • westsidejedi360

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:31 am PT

    If he gets tattoos for every year of madden going forward, hes gonna run out of skin

  • rjs927

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:24 am PT

    And now he might get tattoos from Wii and PS3 EA exclusives.

  • EAInfinite

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:18 am PT

    I hope this leads to EA becoming a more respectable company, maybe he will stop the trend that EA releases a new game in each franchise each year(madden, nba, nhl, need for speed, etc) this may mean more exclusives on microsoft platforms in the future

  • djord02

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:17 am PT

    Ya, Moore's getting paid all right! But I've got to admit, I'll miss him at Microsoft. He was a good speaker, smart, enthusiastic -- maybe even a little crazy (i.e., Halo 2 tattoo) -- but overall, a great guy to lead Xbox 360.

  • makemeweak

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:09 am PT

    WOW - that's a quite lucrative salary and bonus package for Moore!

  • LordFarquad

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:08 am PT

    Thats nothing... hes getting 600,000 a year for such a high job.

  • ghsacidman

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 9:07 am PT

    The man was already making a ton of money... Now he's making even more... All I wanna know is... WHERE'S MY CUT? Share the wealth Peter, c'mon man.

  • dewmandew7

    Posted Jul 18, 2007 8:59 am PT

    @ FuzzyChops

    Uh... a ton of athletes make more money than what Moore is going to be making at EA.

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