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salesman were separate and distinct from his duties as CEO, the
inclusion of Ferguson's sales commissions in the analysis of
Ferguson's compensation as CEO would be inappropriate. Within
these parameters, Otto concluded that Ferguson's compensation as
CEO was reasonable.
B. Respondent's Expert
Respondent presented expert testimony from David Neil Fuller
(Fuller). Fuller reviewed surveys of financial data of other
companies, and he also reviewed the compensation paid to
executives at nine companies that he considered comparable to
petitioner. The nine companies selected by Fuller had revenues
that were 15 to 20 times larger than petitioner's revenues, and
those companies were not necessarily in a line of business
comparable to that of petitioner.
When discussing petitioner's performance, Fuller
acknowledged that the U.S. economy was in a recession during the
years in issue. Fuller stated that the slow economy had a
negative impact on the steel industry in general, yet petitioner
suffered less from the recession than did the nine companies that
Fuller selected for comparison.
Fuller also acknowledged that Ferguson served as
petitioner's CEO and as a salesman. Yet in the compensation
analysis, Fuller grouped Ferguson's duties together under the
title of CEO. Fuller opined that a range of reasonable
compensation for Fuller would be $500,000-$600,000, $550,000-
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