STORES Magazine - January 2008 - (Page C7)

Ashwani Kaul, senior research While critics may be analyst at Reuters Fundamenquick to judge retail tals. “Because compensation CEO pay hikes as out is still rising, the relationship of sync with industry of CEO compensation to performance, that view may prove to be earnings and total shareholder short-sighted return is less clear than it was a year ago.” In fact, the generally hefty increases in CEO pay for the last fiscal year are due, in some measure, to new SEC regulations regarding compensation disclosure that went into effect in December 2006. The details of the new regulations are complicated — the SEC document laying them out is over 300 pages long — but the net effect has been to force companies to disclose things in the compensation totals that were heretofore tucked away elsewhere in the annual report. The new disclosure rules, which cover things like pension plans, “make it a lot more apparent what CEOs are receiving in terms of total compensation,” Kaul says. Retail CEO compensation is often Bringing Up the Rear best viewed as a window into the CEO COMPANY TOTAL broader make-up of a company. TarCOMPENSATION LAST FISCAL YEAR get CEO Robert Ulrich was the highest paid industry executive. UlJames Sinegal Costco 454,629 rich, who’s held the top spot there Jeffrey Bezos Amazon.com 1,281,840 for a dozen years, is credited with John Mackey Whole Foods Market 1,346,976 crafting Target’s unique brand and Jeffrey Rein Walgreen 2,181,661 marketing image. The company James Donald Starbucks 3,007,612 continued to hit the bull’s-eye in Source: Reuters Fundamentals 2007, delivering new products and experiences and reaching new levels when it comes to giving and re-examining business strategies against the backing back. drop of a weakening economy, inconsistent consumer Last February, Target reached a monumental milestone spending and continued industry consolidation. Still, while in giving; the chain now donates more than $3 million each critics may be quick to label retail CEO pay hikes as being week to help strengthen families and communities across out of sync with industry performance, that view may the nation. On one day in October, Target opened 61 prove to be short-sighted. stores; in November, it added a new dimension to fashion “Retail had a difficult year (in 2007), and earnings perby debuting the first-ever model-less fashion show and the formance is down pretty much across the board,” says WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / JANUARY 2008 C3 http://Amazon.com http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2008

STORES Magazine - January 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Build a 'Bot Sneak Peek at Fashion Trends What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Fishing for Talent Retail CEO Compensation Research Concept2Watch E-Commerce Payment Solutions Online Merchandising POS LPInformation LP Vantage Point Newsbeat Industry Watch Cover Story: Making LP PCI-Compliant Mall Security Video Surveillance Industry Perspective Forum RFID Business Intelligence Data Management Logistics Turning Green into Gold Love of – and for – the Outdoors Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - January 2008

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