STAPLES CEO GETS $30 MILLION IN 2007

[Anonymous]

Staples CEO gets $30 million in ’07
Staples Inc. Chairman and CEO Ronald Sargent was awarded compensation valued at $30.3 million in 2007, as the world’s largest office products supplier continued to put distance between itself and its lagging U.S. rivals, Office Depot and OfficeMax.The bulk of Sargent’s 2007 compensation came from stock and option awards totaling 750,000 shares under an incentive package whose value depends on how well Staples performs through 2011, according to a regulatory filing by the Framingham, Mass.-based company Monday.The awards carried an estimated value of $19.6 million when they were awarded last March. Sargent was awarded $8.5 million in additional stock and options last year.Sargent was paid a $1.1 million salary, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.He was awarded $621,006 in non-equity incentives, down from $1.5 million in 2006. He also was given $471,292 in other compensation — perquisites that included everything from $121,030 in executive life insurance premiums to $53,871 for tax preparation services.Sargent’s 2007 compensation total is more than three times his $9.9 million in 2006.Sargent, 52, has been chief executive since February 2002 and board chairman since March 2005 at Staples, a 21-year-old chain with more than 2,000 stores and 76,000 employees. Staples is the world’s largest supplier of office products, ahead of Delray, Fla.-based Office Depot Inc. and Naperville, Ill.-based OfficeMax Inc.

Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.In awarding Sargent the performance-based stock-and-options package, Staples said its compensation committee considered the compounded annual growth rate of nearly 18 percent that Staples’ stock has posted over the five years.Staples said Sargent has “displayed exceptional leadership during his tenure at Staples.”The incentive package covering a five-year period ending at the close of fiscal 2011 awards Sargent 375,000 shares of restricted stock if he stays with the company through that period. Another 375,000 shares will be issued only if Staples company achieves certain financial targets through fiscal 2011.Shares of Staples ended 2007 at $22.75, down 14 percent from the start of the year, as the slumping economy hurt sales of office products, particularly in the U.S. However, Staples continued to fare far better than its chief rival, Office Depot, whose stock plunged 64 percent last year, and OfficeMax, whose stock fell 59 percent.And while Staples has suffered disappointing retail sales, it has continued to enjoy strong international sales, and growth in its delivered office products category serving corporate customers. Staples added 120 stores last year, and plans another 100 this year.

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April 22, 2008 at 12:45 PM