Vanguard Group employee dividend rises 12 percent: newsletter

BOSTON (Reuters) - Top mutual fund provider Vanguard Group raised the value of a profit-sharing dividend paid to employees by 12 percent for 2015 as investors poured in assets, the editor of a newsletter following the Pennsylvania company said on Thursday.

Closely held Vanguard, the largest U.S. mutual fund firm with more than $3 trillion under management, does not disclose many financial details. A Vanguard spokeswoman declined to comment.

But Daniel Wiener, who runs a newsletter for Vanguard investors, said via email the company told employees on Thursday afternoon that the value of a dividend they are paid under an internal profit-sharing plan rose 12 percent to $185.44 per share for 2015, a growth rate similar to recent years. Dividends can account for the majority of pay for top executives, he said.

Based on previous disclosures, Wiener estimated that for 2015 Vanguard founder Jack Bogle would have been paid around $18.8 million and that its second chairman, John Brennan, would have received $10.8 million. The pay of current Chairman and Chief Executive William McNabb would be somewhere in between those two figures, Wiener estimated.

"It may not be hedge fund money, but it isn't seaman's wages either," Wiener wrote.

Vanguard's assets have soared in recent years as clients have embraced its low-cost passive funds like the Vanguard 500 Index Fund.

For the year through April 30 Vanguard funds took in $92.9 billion, according to Morningstar, far more than any big rival. In comparison American Funds, known for its actively managed funds, took in $6.3 billion over the same period.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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