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| IAC/InterActiveCorp CEO Barry Diller |
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
A crackdown on corporate perks has prompted companies to disclose that more and more top executives are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free flights on company jets for personal trips, a news report said Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal, citing company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, noted that 33 executives received more than $200,000 apiece in personal-plane benefits last year.
IAC/InterActive (Research) CEO Barry Diller got free flights valued at $832,000 for his personal use of the company's jet in 2004, rivaling his annual salary of $930,000, the report said, citing a filing made by the company.
Over the last three years, Diller benefited to the tune of $2.2 million in free travel on company jets since IAC/InterActive began disclosing the perk in more detail three years ago, the report said.
IAC/Interactive spokeswoman Deborah Roth told the newspaper that Diller's use of the company aircraft was part of a "fair and reasonable" compensation package, and that his personal use of the plane provided a number of benefits, such as allowing him to conduct company business via e-mail and telephone while flying.
Roth also said that "significantly heightened security" was another benefit for IAC, the report said.
Before the crackdown by the SEC, companies -- which defend the perk as a part of doing business -- kept a low profile on executive use of company jets.
But the SEC's inquiry into the executive benefit has led to new disclosures that reveal many executives are using company planes for personal use, the Journal report said.
Other executives to benefit include Morgan Stanley's (Research) Philip Purcell, whose personal usage for 2004 was valued at $467,000, the report said.
Citigroup (Research) reported that director and executive committee chairman Robert Rubin boarded the corporate jet for $459,000 of free personal travel in 2004, and J.P. Morgan Chase (Research) President James Dimon's benefit came in at $395,000, according to the report.
IAC/Interactive's Diller, who is known to attend lavish parties from coast to coast, topped the newspaper's list of users of corporate jets for personal travel in 2004.
Citigroup and CVS Corp. (Research), which both require their executives to use company transportation at all times -- even for personal matters -- also cited security concerns as reasons for allowing senior officers to use corporate transportation, the report said.
Besides getting free flights, executives who use the corporate jet for personal business also get a tax benefit, since they often pay a federal tax of less than 1 percent of the cost of renting a private plane for the same trip, the newspaper said.
Not all companies offer the high-flying perk.
The Journal said Johnson & Johnson (Research), Cisco Systems (Research), Goldman Sachs (Research) and Intel (Research) all prohibit executives from using company aircraft for personal matters.
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