No pay raise for Netflix execs in 2009

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Online movie rental company Netflix Inc held compensation for its top executives flat for 2009, with Chief Executive Reed Hastings awarded $2 million total in annual salary and stock options, as he was last year, according to a securities filing on Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy is slated to receive $600,000 in annual salary and $800,000 in annual stock options, the company's proxy showed. McCarthy received the same total compensation in 2008, but took $800,000 in salary and $600,000 in options, the filing said.

The company recognized total compensation costs in 2008 of $2.76 million for Hastings and $1.9 million for McCarthy, due to accounting rules that require it to attribute a higher value to the stock options than the dollar value of the stock option allowance, the filing said.

Netflix executives receive two key compensation elements: salary, paid in cash, and a stock option allowance, whose dollar amount is used to calculate the number of options to be granted monthly.

The company does not provide performance bonuses for executives but allows them to receive up to 60 percent of their annual compensation in stock options for 2009, the proxy showed.

Also on Monday, Netflix set its annual meeting for May 28 at its Los Gatos, California, headquarters. The company's proxy calls for shareholders to vote on the reelection of directors Richard Barton and Charles Giancarlo.

Shares of Netflix closed up 3.3 percent, or $1.43 at a 52-week high of $44.50 on Monday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Gina Keating; Editing by Gary Hill)