SiliconBeat

The board of directors at Cypress Semiconductor gave Chief Executive T. J. Rodgers a “discretionary bonus” worth $100,000 last month, primarily in recognition of the company’s “successful spin-off of SunPower,” an event that took place in 2006, according to a regulatory filing made today. Cypress shareholders finally received their pay-out from the deal in September when the company divided its majority holding of SunPower stock among Cypress’s own shareholders.

Rather than paying Rodgers in cash, however, the bonus was paid out in 33,670 fully vested shares of Cypress stock, which closed at $2.97 on Nov. 21, the day they were granted. It raised his holdings of Cypress shares by a mere 0.2 percent to 16.2 million shares, and paled in comparison to the additional 1.1 million shares he bought on the open market that day, which cost him about $3.4 million, or an average of $3.09, and lifted his holdings in the company to 17.3 million shares, or 11 percent, up from 9.8 percent.

The bullish buy helped boost Cypress’s stock price, which rose by a third over the next five trading days to $3.73.

On Monday, Cypress shares fell along with most other chip makers after the Semiconductor Industry Association said chip shipments fell 2.4 percent in October because of a worldwide economic slowdown. Cypress ended Monday down 28 cents, or 7.5 percent, to close at $3.45.