SiliconBeat

It seems so long ago that JDS Uniphase (ticker:JDSU) was a stock market darling. That was back in 2000 before the San Jose fiber optic collapsed into a heap in early 2001.

Six years later, well, things are sorta better. The company still exists. That’s good. And in 2007, it lost $26.3 million, which was a lot less than the $151.2 million it lost the year before. And revenue went up to $1.4 billion in 2007 from $1.2 billion in 2006.

Apparently those results have made the board giddy. Last month, they disclosed in their proxy that they paid CEO Kevin Kennedy $6.1 million in 2007, a figure that includes $575,000 in annual salary, a bonus of $425,000, and $5.1 million in new stock and options.

But since happy days are here again at JDS, Kennedy got another big smooch from the board. In an 8-K filed on Tuesday, the company disclosed the terms of his new employment agreement. It includes a raise in annual pay to $800,000 and the potential to earn an annual bonus worth up to $1 million.

Kennedy also signed a new severance agreement that would give him three years of salary in a lump sum and three years worth of bonuses. That’s potentially worth $5.4 million, not counting all the options and stock goodies.

Unfortunately, none of this has helped shareholders. Kennedy joined the company on Sept. 1, 2003, when the stock was trading at a split-adjusted $27.60 per share. On Tuesday, the stock was trading at $15.78. It’s also slightly down from a year ago when it was trading around $17.00 per share.

If only JDS made time machines so it could take investors back to July 26, 2000. Closing price of the stock: A split-adjusted $1,087.52 per share.