Lowe's CEO got $12M pay package last year : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

NEW YORK (AP) — The CEO of the No. 2 home-improvement chain Lowe's Cos. received a pay package valued at $12 million in 2010, up 3 percent from the year before, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Robert A. Niblock, 48, received a base salary of $1.1 million and a performance-based bonus of $2.2 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The bulk of his award came from stock and option grants valued at $8.5 million on the date they were granted.

Niblock, who joined Lowe's in 1993 and became chairman and CEO in 2005, received other compensation worth $195,052, including retirement contributions and $44,873 for personal use of corporate aircraft.

During the year, home owners spent more on home-improvement projects but remained focused on smaller maintenance and repair projects and held back on bigger-ticket renovation.

Net income for Lowe's, based in Mooresville, rose 13 percent to $2.01 billion in 2010. Revenue rose 3 percent to $48.82 billion.

The Associated Press formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards for 2010 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.

chines0791

April 11, 2011 - 12:09 pm EDT

It is amazing that he received that amount, yet the very employees that earned him that money had their Christmas bonus' of a whopping $25-$35 taken away this past year.

balance

April 11, 2011 - 1:56 pm EDT

Yeah, but he works hard. Apparently the Lowes employees don't work hard and therefore don't deserve the bonus. Isn't that what we believe in America? That people who are rich deserve it because they are disciplined, and people who are poor deserve it because they are lazy? I also think rich people like that should not pay ANY taxes, because they are morally superior to the rest of us. Only poor people and working class people should pay taxes.

capricorn7nc

April 11, 2011 - 3:56 pm EDT

You sound like an idiot. The only way they make profits is by the workers, not the CEO. The workers are the ones transporting, managing, and selling the products. The CEO, just oversees the company and looks for POTENTIAL problems that the workers can't fix on their own. CEOs are no more than figureheads that speak for the company, and they do not make the profits for the organization, the workers do.

rc378

April 12, 2011 - 10:12 am EDT

please look up the definition for the word "sarcasm".

Gso Resident

April 11, 2011 - 1:02 pm EDT

Looks like he's been with Lowes a good while. These are difficult times. I say he deserves it. I go to Lowes a lot. They do a good job.

A quick look at Yahoo Finance shows their stock price bottomed at $19 in July '08 and is now $26. Pay the man.

BlueDial

April 11, 2011 - 2:47 pm EDT

I agree. Fear of Wealth Envy/Wealth Hatred should not be a factor in compensating executives at SUCCESSFUL companies. If we continue bashing folks for working hard to climb the ladder and achieve to their maximum potential, what kind of signal will that send to our children and grandchildren? You wealth-haters would do well to move to Europe or another part of the world that's eat up with socialism, because this is America and that's just not what we're about.

April 12, 2011 - 10:15 am EDT

what exactly is this guy's job description? what can he possibly do to merit that amount of income? especially considering what they pay the average employee at lowe's. and let's please keep in mind the customers never meet the ceo, just the employees - seems to me the employees should have some decent value.

elsoots

April 11, 2011 - 1:08 pm EDT

thay could be no. ! if thay did not carge so must for every thing. thay should pay the workers more. He do not do that much to make that much.

onetrickydude

April 11, 2011 - 1:27 pm EDT

Not a living breathing soul alive that is worth or deserves that much money a year. Nothing like getting wealthy while paying your employees minimum wage.

April 11, 2011 - 1:57 pm EDT

Hey, what if we paid him in land? Then he'd have a big chunk of the state, while people like me would have about 1/2 square inch. Or, what if we paid him in corn? He'd have to have a football stadium just to store it. (Money makes it possible for people to hoard ridiculous amounts of wealth.)

retiree

April 11, 2011 - 3:05 pm EDT

He's responsible for several thousand employees and makes what he makes, but movie stars get even more money and have only themselves to support. Is that equality? But, I also say if you can hit a 90 mph fastball, and someone will pay you 30 mil a year to play ball, go for it. It is those people who pay the tickets that ultimately pay the price. The law of supply and demand is at play and there will always be greedy people looking for an edge and capitalists who think they are getting a bargain.

April 11, 2011 - 3:52 pm EDT

What's even funnier is that people up here don't understand that his pay is the reason why they don't employ more people. These CEOs who are getting these outrageous pay packages when their average workers make less than $12/HR, and I'm being generous, are the reason why they either don't hire or hire out of the country to keep profits up, and work the death out of the employees that actually do all the work. Compensating CEOs for success is OK, but when it's on the backs of the people who actually do the work then it's not fair anymore.

April 11, 2011 - 4:17 pm EDT

Dem or Rep there will soon be addl tax brackets for the wealthy say 60% - 70% like back in the '60's.

Would that add to the incentive of this guy to do well ? Rather him get it than the gov't in which case 90% of it will evaporate into thin air.......

When I said difficult times I mean they did not close stores but slowed the opening of them quite a bit. What if they or any box store closed 100 stores. What about those employees ?

Their stock price means that it is currently in demand.

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