Retail Powerhouse

After watching the 60 Minutes interview of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, it got me into thinking of how much of a contrasting view there is between Mackey and, for the purposes of this example, Albertsons’ former CEO Larry Johnston.

Mackey made $430,000 last year (not counting any stock options) while Albertsons former CEO will pocket more than $100,000,000* in cash, stock, health and other benefits this year. This might be an unfair comparison, given that one takes into account one year’s salary and the other one takes compensation for the sale of the company… However, bear with me while I illustrate my point and get through my idea.

Technorati Tags: Whole Foods, Albertsons, CEO, compensation, retail

Tthere’s anything wrong with making a lot of money, nor am trying to look at this from a personal point of view – after all, it’s nothing personal, it’s only business – but when we look at leaders like Mackey and compare them to leaders like Johnston, I cannot but shake my head in sadness.

Do you think Johnston’s compensation was fair? If you watched Mackey’s interview, do you agree with his view of how supermarkets should be run? Would you have taken all that money if you were in Johnston’s place?

* Here’s the breakdown for Johnston’s pay:

• $8.85 million for severance of three times his base pay.
• $482,212 for his pro-rated annual bonus.
• $35,818 for 36 months of health and other benefits.
• $50,000 for outplacement services.
• $100,000 for relocation expenses.
• $159,208 for fringe benefits.
• $20.4 million for his life annuity, if he takes it as a lump-sum payment.
• $627,111 from the company’s long-term incentive plan.
• $3.7 million from the company’s deferred-compensation plan.
• $28.9 million if he cashes in his 1,100,461 stock options at $26.29 each.
• $29.3 million if he cashes in his 1,114,753 shares of stock at $26.29 each.
• $12.9 million to pay the income taxes on the package.