Schering-Plough Announces Expanded Stock Retention Guidelines for Senior Management

KENILWORTH, N.J., April 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Schering-Plough Corporation announced today a new governance action intended to strengthen the alignment of executives with the interests of shareholders.

"We are expanding the stock retention guidelines, which we believe are now among the strongest in our industry, for the Executive Management Team (including the five highest-paid executives)," said Hans W. Becherer, Chairman of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.

Key elements of the policy are as follows: -- Going forward, the executives are required to hold shares acquired upon the exercise of stock options for two years (not including shares used to pay the exercise price and tax withholding on the exercise). -- Existing stock ownership guidelines continue in effect. Those guidelines require the CEO to hold eight times salary in stock and other senior executives (including the executive vice presidents) to hold four times salary in stock.

"Schering-Plough executive compensation policies tie a significant percentage of compensation to performance. Further, a significant portion of total executive compensation is already paid in stock (rather than cash) to align management with shareholders. The policy we are announcing today further strengthens that alignment with shareholders, at a time when our industry and our company are under increasing challenge," said Becherer.

"The actions we are announcing today further strengthen our company in a challenging environment, as we continue with confidence to drive toward our goal of long-term high performance," said Fred Hassan, chairman and CEO.

Schering-Plough is an innovation-driven, science-centered global health care company. Through its own biopharmaceutical research and collaborations with partners, Schering-Plough creates therapies that help save and improve lives around the world. The company applies its research-and-development platform to human prescription and consumer products as well as to animal health products. Schering-Plough's vision is to "Earn Trust, Every Day" with the doctors, patients, customers and other stakeholders served by its colleagues around the world. The company is based in Kenilworth, N.J., and its Web site is http://www.schering-plough.com/.