Last year proved challenging for Cognex
Corp. and its executive team.

The Natick, Mass.-based maker of machine-vision technologies stumbled
into the red on a near 28 percent slide in product sales. CEO Robert
Shillman and chief financial officer Richard A. Morin received salary
cuts. And for the second year in a row, the company’s senior executive
team received no bonuses.

That said, Shillman, Morin and chief operating officer Robert Willett
still collected some $1.1 million in payments in exchange for their
near-worthless options to buy hundreds-of-thousands of Cognex shares.
Those so-called underwater options carried exercise prices that in some
cases exceeded $28 a share — a hefty premium over Cognex’s trading price
of around $17.60 a share at the end of 2009.

In the cases of Shillman, Morin and Willett, the option-related
payments exceeded their base salaries for the year. Willett also
pocketed an extra $130,000 last year to cover his moving expenses to the
company’s Natick headquarters, according to a regulatory filing. He was
hired in June 2008.

The option buyout was part of a larger plan to “purchase from
eligible employees” certain underwater options that carried exercise
prices greater than $23 a share. As of Dec. 15, Cognex had paid $9.2
million in exchange for 4.9 million tendered options owned by employees,
according to financial filings.

In a regulatory filing Wednesday, only the option buyouts affecting
Shillman, Morin and Willett were detailed.

For the year, Shillman’s total 2009 compensation was valued at
$844,856. Of that amount, $584,375 came from his option buyout. For the
third consecutive year, he declined to accept his annual salary. That
amount — $250,000 last year, $350,000 for the preceding two years — was
donated to a public charity, the company said.

Morin’s $568,944 in 2009 compensation was nearly evenly split between
his base salary ($249,623) and his option buyout, valued at $275,633.
Likewise, Willett’s $732,596 was mostly comprised of three payment
categories: his annual salary ($255,981), the option buyout ($270,000)
and his relocation benefit.

Cognex (Nasdaq: CGNX) booked $175.7 million in revenue and a net loss
of $4.9 million in 2009. Those numbers were down from 2008’s totals,
when the maker of vision-based manufacturing and product development
technologies booked $242.7 million in revenue and net income of $30.5
million.