MDC execs near top among builders; Mizel, Mandarich richly rewarded as stock stumbles

Denver,CO. -"Larry Mizel and David Mandarich, the top two honchos at Denver-based home-building giant MDC Holdings (MDC), were rewarded last year with pay days that topped $40 million. During the same time, the company's stock dropped 5.7 percent. While MDC was the third- worst performing major publicly traded home-building stock last year, Mizel and Mandarich pocketed the fourth-highest salary and bonuses in 2005 compared with 13 other executives from other U.S. home builders. The duo topped the Rocky Mountain News' list last year, and in the past four years Mizel pulled in $109 million, and his counterpart Madarich pulled in $111 million. Gerald Armstrong, a Denver- based shareholder activist said, 'Something is out of balance' about the pay of the MDC executives...Ian McCarthy, the CEO of Beazer Homes (BZH), the top-performing home-building company last year, took home $8.8 million in salary and a bonus, though Beazer's stock price skyrocketed by 65 percent last year. Still, Mizel's and Mandarich's compensation paled compared with that of Bruce Karatz, the CEO of KB Homes (KBH). Karatz earned more than $30 million in salary and bonus last year and cashed in a whopping $118 million in stock...Gary Reece, chief financial officer of MDC, noted in an e-mail Friday that Mizel and Mandarich would have received larger bonuses under the shareholder- approved compensation plan, if the compensation committee, with the consent of both the executives, hadn't capped their bonus payments...Home builder boss pay - Stock Salary/change Builder Executive bonus* 2004-05: MDC Larry Mizel $21.5l -5.7%, MDC David Mandarich $21.33 -5.7%, Beazer Ian McCarthy $8.779 65%, Centex (CTX) Tim Eller $5.86 6.2%, D.R. Horton (DHI) Don Horton $13.2 47%, Hovnanian (HOV) Kevork Hovnanian $6.29 25.8%, KB Homes Bruce Karatz $30.1 61%, Lennar (LEN) Stuart Miller $22.52 30%, M/I Homes (MHO) Robert Schottenstein $2.47 -26%, Meritage (MTH) John Landon $9.50 11.74%, NVR (NVR) Dwight Schar $4 -8.68%, Pulte Homes (PHM) Bill Pulte $5.85 24%, Ryland Homes (RYL) Chad Dreier $17.50 25.8%, Standard Pacific (SPF) Steve Scarborough $16.91 15% Toll Brothers (TOL) Robert Toll $28.62 59% Sources: Proxy Statements Filed With Sec; Does Not Include Option Profits And Other Forms Of Compensation. *In Millions Of Dollars"...   
May 6, 2006