New Report Says Target Board Slashed CEO’s Pay
Target shareholders reportedly complained that CEO Gregg Steinhafel’s pay was too high relative to the retailer’s less-than-stellar performance last year. The board of directors listened to them and cut his pay by 37 percent.
Bowing to the complaints, USA Today said the board slashed Steinhafel’s pay from $20.6 million in 2012 to $12.9 million last year. The news was contained in Target’s proxy this week.
The now ousted CEO will be required to pay back about $5.4 million in retirement benefits.
USA Today said:
In an era of increasingly large CEO pay packages, Target directors appear to have applied the company’s “expect more, pay less” consumer brand campaign to executive compensation. The board said it had “exercised negative discretion” last year, providing no short-term incentive awards to senior managers. While Steinhafel took the biggest hit, other execs, including interim CEO John Mulligan, saw compensation drop 10 percent to 16 percent.
Steinhafel was forced out of Target earlier this month as a result of that massive data breach last year, as well as other disappointments. The New York Times added:
In the fourth quarter of last year, which includes the crucial holiday shopping season, the company’s profit sank 46 percent over the previous year. For the fiscal year, Target’s profit was $1.97 billion, a substantial fall from just under $3 billion the year before.
USA Today says the former CEO’s golden parachute is worth more than $54 million.
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This article was originally published on MoneyTalksNews.com as 'New Report Says Target Board Slashed CEO’s Pay'.