OFFICE DEPOT's INTERIM CEO PULLING DOWN $200,000 A MONTH

[Anonymous]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/office-depot-interim-ceo-pulling-down-200-000-1015315.html

OFFICE DEPOT’s INTERIM CEO PULLING DOWN $200,000 A MONTH
BOCA
RATON — It can’t be easy stepping into the shoes of the chairman and
chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company.But this is the second
time Neil Austrian, lead director at Office Depot Inc., has taken on the
role in an interim basis at the Boca Raton-based company. And he’s
being handsomely rewarded for doing it.Office Depot Inc. released
details of Austrian’s compensation after market close Tuesday, saying
the company has agreed to pay the interim chief a salary of $200,000 a
month as well as 400,000 shares of non-qualified stock options at an
exercise price of $4.43. The monthly salary translates to $2.4 million a
year.

Austrian’s salary began accruing Oct. 25, the day the firm
announced that then-chairman and CEO Steve Odland would resign.Odland
officially left on Monday in a decision that the company said was
mutual. He, too, received a nice package for his troubles, including a
cash severance of $5.2 million; payment of his $5 million retention
award; and payment of the equivalent of two years of health and other
benefits. Odland will also receive part of his 2010 bonus.Odland was
paid nearly $5.5 million in 2009, according to a Palm Beach Post
analysis of proxy statements and annual reports of Office Depot Inc. The
amount comprises salary, bonus, option gains, stock vesting and other
types of compensation.

Austrian previously served as Office
Depot’s chairman and CEO before the arrival of Odland, from Oct. 4, 2004
to March 11, 2005. He stepped up at that time after the company ousted
Bruce Nelson because of poor company earnings and a lack of
accountability. Nelson had been CEO for a little more than four
years.When Austrian last led the company, he was offered a monthly
salary of $170,000, or $2.04 million a year, and $1 million worth of the
company’s restricted stock, according to company filings.At least some
investors at the time expressed concern that his salary was too
high.Company spokesman Brian Levine declined to comment.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/office-depot-interim-ceo-pulling-down-200-000-1015315.html

[Author]

November 17, 2010 at 7:53 AM