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TIMING IS EVERYTHING: Bronfman owes a special thanks to the WMG board for the $13 million in restricted stock, which he was only able to cash in because of the board's well-timed decision earlier this year to lower the price hurdle for the stock to vest, the Post’s Claire Atkinson notes. Under the original deal, Bronfman's restricted stock vested at prices at $10 and higher. That was well above Warner's stock price of $4.90 on Jan. 19, when the board reduced the vesting price to as low as $7. The next day, on Jan. 20, news broke that Warner Music had put itself up for sale, sending the shares up 27%. Paul Hodgson, a compensation expert with Governance Metrics International, said the timing of the board's decision to lower the vesting price was "extremely unusual and something we look out for carefully. It was tied to performance, and he didn't achieve the performance." (6/15a)