Since 1999 the President of the United States has been on an annual salary of $400,000. Running the sports division at the leading third-party publisher Electronic Arts is apparently more important than running our nation � if you're simply looking at salary, that is. The newest Form 8-K filed by EA with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that EA's offer letter to Peter Moore included a one-time signing bonus of $1.5 million "in recognition of the future compensation value he would be foregoing by leaving his position at Microsoft" and an annual base salary of $550,000. The filing said that his "discretionary target bonus percentage will be 75% of his annual base salary."

Regarding the $1.5 million, the filing said that although he will earn the one-time bonus after working for two full years at EA, Moore will actually receive it within 30 days of starting employment. That said, if he voluntarily leaves EA before the completion of two years, he will have to repay EA the full net amount of the bonus.

In addition to the bonus and annual salary, EA also said it will provide Moore a stock option to purchase 350,000 shares of the company's common stock pursuant to EA's 2000 Equity Incentive Plan. "The stock option will vest as to 24% of the shares twelve months from the first day of the month in which the grant is made, and will then vest in additional 2% increments each month thereafter for the following 38 months," the filing explained. EA will also grant him 50,000 restricted stock units, "which vest as to 50% of the shares on the second anniversary of the grant date, and as to the remaining shares on the fourth anniversary of the grant date."

And finally, EA also intends to assist Moore with relocation-related expenses, estimated at about $330,000. However, if Moore "voluntarily leaves his employment with EA or is terminated for any reason other than a reduction in force that eliminates his job position (a) prior to the one-year anniversary of his date of hire, he has agreed to pay EA an amount equal to all relocation and gross-up expenses incurred by EA through the date of his termination; or (b) on or after the one-year anniversary of his date of hire and prior to the second anniversary of his date of hire, he has agreed to pay EA an amount equal to a pro-rata portion (24 minus number of full months of employment / 24 months) of all relocation and gross-up expenses incurred by EA through his date of termination."

So all told, the upfront cost for EA to bring on Peter Moore will be nearly $2.4 million. We're not sure how much he was paid while at Microsoft, but EA certainly went above and beyond, New York Yankees style if you will.