[ by Melanie Gretchen ] NYSE Euronext is indeed moving into its next performance phase, with added bonus payments and the restoration of previously reduced severance payments.  Following European regulators' decision to block the company's merger with Deutsche Börse AG, the company's shares outperformed the S&P 500 and BATS Global Markets Inc. this year. At the Helm. CEO since 2007, Duncan Niederauer would have run what would have been the world's largest stock and derivatives exchange operator had the merger gone through.  To date, the NYSE said it revised his pay package "to retain and incentivize our high-performing CEO at a critical juncture for the company following the termination of the proposed business combination with Deutsche Böerse," in a filing with the SEC. His bonus plan, paid out in stock, tops out at $6 million a year, in addition to previous incentive payouts.  The NYSE also said he would be eligible for severance payments twice his annual salary, plus agreed bonuses. Looking Up. Besides beating out the S&P 500 this year, the NYSE also made out well compared to BATS Global Markets Inc., which canceled its IPO on Friday after technical glitches on its own exchange disrupted trading of the shares.  Within the NYSE, the newly doubled severance payment eligibility compares with the previously halved payments announced with plans of the merger. For further details, go to [WSJ, 3/28/12].