Paramount Group revealed an additional $1.5 million in previously unreported pay to its chief executive and said a second longtime director would step off the board.
The latest batch of previously undisclosed compensation paid for CEO Albert Behler’s personal accountant, car, and club memberships, Paramount said Thursday. The disclosures came a few weeks after Paramount reported for the first time that it had paid more than $3 million over the last three years to outside companies controlled by Behler, including a charter-jet enterprise, consulting firm, and winery. It also paid hundreds of thousands to a design firm owned by Behler’s spouse.
In addition to disclosing new details about Behler’s pay, Paramount said that director Thomas Armbrust, who sits on the nominating committee, is stepping off the board after 11 years. Katharina Otto-Bernstein, a film producer whose family controls around 19% of Paramount’s shares, is also leaving the board after 11 years. Neither could be reached by phone or email.
The loss of two veteran directors suggests eroding support for Behler, who has been CEO of the Midtown office landlord since 1991 and its chairman since 2014. He stands for reelection to the board at the company’s annual meeting next month and faces a tough electorate because Paramount’s stock traded Friday at just for a bit more than $4 a share, or 70% below pre-pandemic levels. The firm owns 13 million square feet of office space in Manhattan and San Francisco, including 1633 Broadway and 31 W. 52nd St.
Late Thursday, Paramount disclosed in its annual proxy statement that Behler was awarded $4.4 million in total pay for 2024, below 2023’s $20 million. Last year’s package included a $1.1 million salary, $2.6 million in incentive pay, and $700,000 in “other” compensation.
That “other” sum included $286,000 for “personal accounting services” for Behler, a cost that Paramount hadn’t revealed before. Paramount said it had paid more than $600,000 over the prior two years for Behler’s personal accountant.
A spokesman for Paramount said employees were told to do accounting work on behalf of the CEO and company, resulting in “increased use of company resources for individual business purposes.”
The cost of getting Behler around town was more than previously reported, too. Car and limousine costs initially disclosed at $45,000 in 2023 were revised for that year to $212,000, Paramount said. And $38,000 in costs for 2022 changed to $198,000. In 2024 the bill for Behler’s vehicles was $233,000 and Paramount said it picked up the tab “without allocating costs between business and personal uses.” The spokesman said the company said it did that to “avoid the cumbersome process” required to distinguish between business and personal use of limousines.
Also, the tab for Behler’s club membership dues was higher than previously disclosed. The company initially reported paying $20,000 in 2022 and 2023 but now says it was $36,000 each year. Last year membership fees for Behler cost the company $64,000. Paramount said that in the proxy that previously reported sums had been revised due a “reclassification” of certain payments.
Behler is one of eight directors standing for reelection at the annual shareholder meeting on May 15. Three new members have joined the board in recent years and a fourth, a designee of the Otto family, has been nominated this year. Two firms that advise how to vote in boardroom elections, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass-Lewis, will make their recommendations in a few weeks.
