Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s board is withholding CEO Aubrey McClendon’s 2012 bonus and has cut some of his perquisites, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The board disclosed that it would not give McClendon a bonus for last year, a decision that it said was recommended by him. The board also cut in half McClendon’s expense limits for using company aircraft. He formerly was allowed to use the aircraft with up to $500,000 paid for by the company; that amount has been reduced to $250,000. In addition, deep cuts were made to top executives’ incentive compensation and perquisites.

The board is working on “a compensation philosophy that emphasizes pay for performance and targets peer median compensation levels” and is developing “annual and long-term incentive executive compensation programs for 2013 that appropriately tie pay to performance.” In addition, it wants to approve new executive employment agreements with “substantial changes from the company’s previous executive employment agreements,” including eliminating “‘single-trigger’ change-of-control cash payments,” the filing said.

“The newly constituted board is undertaking a comprehensive review of the company’s general corporate governance practices and executive compensation as part of an ongoing commitment to strengthen its oversight function.”

The news appeared to not sit well with investors, which on the day of the announcement, Tuesday, sent the stock down from Monday’s close by more than 4%. On Friday shares closed at $16.87.

Last year proved especially difficult for Chesapeake, which was co-founded by McClendon in 1989. Following scrutiny of McClendon’s corporate and personal financial dealings, shareholders called for new governance to be implemented. The company was further strained by continuing low natural gas prices, which led to more pressure on its finances. More than $11 billion of the company’s assets already were sold in 2011 and more are being readied for sale this year.

The board last spring wrested control of the company from McClendon and stripped him of his chairmanship (see NGI, May 7, 2012). A month later, following “extensive discussions” with two of its largest shareholders, four board members were ousted, including two in a shareholder vote (see NGI, Jun 11, 2012). Former ConocoPhillips Chairman Archie Dunham within weeks then took the helm (see NGI, June 25, 2012).

Another shareholder proposal, approved at the annual meeting in June, will be pursued by the board to eliminate staggered, or classified, elections, the filing indicated. Classified elections allow board members to be divided into classes with staggered elections so that only one-third every year faces reelection. Chesapeake previously had lobbied, and helped to write, the 2010 Oklahoma statute.

Shareholders this year also will have an opportunity to review a binding measure to allow investors owning at least 3% of the stock for at least three years to nominate up to 25% of the board. The measure was backed by a majority of voters last year as a nonbinding measure.

Changes to be proposed at this year’s annual meeting also include eliminating supermajority voting requirements from corporate bylaws and publishing “certain” political contributions, the board said in the filing.

“If action is not taken by the legislature sufficiently in advance of the 2013 annual meeting, the board will take the steps necessary to ensure that shareholders are allowed to elect the company’s entire board of directors at the 2013 annual meeting,” the filing said. “In the event the Oklahoma legislature declines to grant relief from the classified board statute, the board intends to take the steps necessary to allow the company to reincorporate in Delaware.”

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