Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers
Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers
On March 25, 2009, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors (the
"Compensation Committee") of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (the "Company") took
the following actions relating to executive compensation:
Annual Cash Incentive Plans - Establishment of Criteria for 2009 Bonus. The
Compensation Committee established the performance goal under the Company's 2008
Annual Incentive Award Plan (the "162(m) Plan"), which was approved by the
stockholders of the Company at its 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, as
earnings before interest, taxes and amortization, excluding the impact of
restructurings, discontinued operations, extraordinary items, cost of revenues
charges associated with acquisitions or restructurings, gains/losses from the
sale of a business or real estate, the early retirement of debt and debt
facilities and other unusual or non-recurring items, the cumulative effects of
accounting changes, tax provisions/benefits related to the previous items,
benefits from tax credit carryforwards, the impact of significant tax audits or
events, and certain other items ("Adjusted Operating Income"). The Compensation
Committee determined the percentage of Adjusted Operating Income that each of
the Company's executive officers is entitled to receive as a cash bonus for 2009
under the 162(m) Plan, subject to the Compensation Committee's right to lower,
but not raise, the actual cash bonus to be paid to such executive officer for
the year. The Compensation Committee intends to make its determination as to
whether to lower the actual cash bonus to be paid to executive officers based on
the Company's performance over periods within 2009, with regard to two financial
metrics (described below), and several non-financial goals.
The Compensation Committee also established supplemental performance metrics
and goals for a group of executives including the executive officers under the
Company's annual cash incentive program. The supplemental performance metrics
and goals are based on (a) financial measures for the Company, comprised of
growth in (i) revenue (adjusted for the impact of acquisitions and divestitures
and for foreign currency changes) (35%) and (ii) earnings (adjusted for
restructuring charges and certain other items of income or expense) before
interest, taxes and amortization as a percentage of revenue (35%) and
(b) non-financial measures of the Company's executives' contributions to the
achievement of certain business objectives of the Company (30%). For each of the
financial measures, the Company's actual performance will be measured relative
to the Company's internal performance goals for the first six months of 2009.
The Compensation Committee also intends to establish in July 2009 revenue and
earnings as a percentage of revenue performance metrics for the second half of
2009 for assessing the performance of the executives under the Company's annual
cash incentive program for that period. In early 2010, after giving effect to
the weighting of the supplemental financial performance metrics for the two
six-month periods in 2009, a range of performance for the financial and
non-financial measures, corresponding to a multiplier of 0 to 2, will be applied
to the previously established target cash bonus amounts for the Company's
executives, including its executive officers.