Get me a Bud Light…and a bonus!

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. on Friday awarded bonuses to top executives for 2007 performance. The country’s biggest brewer granted the following bonuses:

• August A. Busch IV, president and chief executive officer: $2.5 million 
• W. Randolph Baker, chief financial officer: $650,000
• Mark T. Bobak, chief legal officer: $600,000. (Mr. Bobak resigned as an executive officer, effective Dec. 31). 
• Douglas J. Muhleman, vice president of brewing, operations and technology for U.S. beer division: $545,000
• Michael J. Owens, vice president of business operations for U.S. beer division: $475,000

The board of directors’ compensation committee certified that the 2007 “performance goal” — a certain level of pre-tax earnings — had been met, triggering the bonuses. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the committee did not specify the exact numerical goal that had been met.