The CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. received a pay package in 2010 worth $18.7 million, a 4 percent dip from the year before, according to an Associated Press calculation, as the world’s largest retailer struggled to reverse a decline in a key revenue figure.
Mike Duke, 61, received a base salary of about $1.2 million and a performance-based bonus of nearly $3.9 million for the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31.
His performance-based bonus fell 20 percent from 2009 because the company’s U.S. stores performed below its targets, Wal-Mart said in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The bulk of Duke’s award came in the form of stock awards valued at nearly $12.7 million when they were granted; he got no stock options. He received other compensation worth $476,567, including $231,319 for the company’s contribution to a supplemental executive retirement plan, $93,258 for use of company aircraft and $122,841 for deferred compensation plan incentive payments. He also received $499,062 in above-market interest credited on deferred compensation.
Duke was named CEO in 2009. He joined the company in 1995 and has served in positions including president and CEO of U.S. operations.
In his letter to shareholders in Wal-Mart’s annual report, Duke said his top priority in the current year is for revenue to rise in the company’s U.S. stores open at least a year. He also singled out opening new, smaller Walmart Express stores in urban and rural markets.
Wal-Mart Stores’ net income rose 14 percent during the year while revenue rose 3 percent to $418.95 billion. But revenue in U.S. stores open at least a year fell 1.1 percent from the previous year. They figure is considered a key measure of a retailer’s financial health because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.
Wal-Mart’s stock rose about 1 percent during the year.
Wal-Mart is trying to lure more shoppers as it faces increased competition from dollar stores which are usually smaller and closer to shoppers.
The company, based in Bentonville, Ark., has been refocusing with the smaller and by beefing up its online business.
Over the past year, the company has added back thousands of products it culled from its shelves as it renovated many stores. More recently, Wal-Mart has resumed emphasizing low prices across the store.
The Associated Press formula calculates an executive’s total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The value that a company assigned to an executive’s stock and option awards for 2010 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company’s stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.
