Three Internet Bosses Lead List of Top-Paid Retail CEOs

By Patrick Thomas

The highest-paid chief executive in the retail industry didn't run the biggest store chain, or the fastest-growing one, or a company most would recognize as a retailer. It was Stephen Kaufer, CEO of the online travel company TripAdvisor Inc.

Mr. Kaufer, who made $47.9 million, joined the bosses of two other consumer internet websites atop the list of the highest-paid CEOs at companies in Standard & Poor's retail industry group in 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal analysis of pay data from MyLogIQ LLC.

Glenn Fogel of Booking Holdings Inc., which runs travel sites Booking.com, Kayak.com and Priceline.com, came in second, at $27.8 million. Third place was Reed Hastings, of streaming-video giant Netflix Inc., who made $24.4 million.

Then came Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart Inc., the world's largest retailer, who made $22.8 million. Jeff Bezos, head of the biggest online retailer, Amazon.com Inc., was paid $1.7 million. The founder's stake in the e-commerce giant makes him one of the world's richest people.

TripAdvisor posted a total shareholder return of negative 26% last year, among the worst in the group. Although Walmart's Mr. McMillon ranked fourth in pay, the company had one of the highest shareholder returns, at 64%. Total shareholder return reflects share-price appreciation and dividends.

Mr. Kaufer's compensation jumped from $1.2 million in 2016 and $1.5 million in 2015, largely because TripAdvisor granted him an equity award linked to performance consisting of stock and option awards. In most recent years, he received mainly salary. He received a similar equity award in 2013, when his pay was about $39 million.

TripAdvisor said the periodic equity grants are meant to promote long-term company performance, and that the board doesn't intend to give Mr. Kaufer more equity until at least 2021. Until then, his pay is likely to return to 2016 levels.

"We have a long-term view of the company," a TripAdvisor spokesman said.

Ernie Herrman, who runs TJX Cos., rounded out the top five with $16.9 million. Mr. Herrman's first full year as CEO of the company, which operates the TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls chains, was 2017. But he actually made more as president of the company in 2016 when he took over as CEO, at $18.5 million, than he did in his first full year as chief. The company's total shareholder return was 8.9% last year.

As a group, the 28 retailing CEOs in the Journal analysis made less than their peers in the S&P 500, with median pay of about $10 million compared with $12.1 million for the index overall.

In addition to S&P's retailing group, the analysis included companies in its food and staples retailing group, such as grocer Kroger Co. and warehouse chain Costco Wholesale Corp.

The Journal analysis excluded CEOs who changed jobs during the year or served less than a full year. See the full list here:

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 24, 2018 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)

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