Walmart’s top five executives earned $68.73 million last year

The top five executives at Walmart are paid handsomely for their services, raking in a combined $68.73 million last year. Total income for the top five earners rose 6.19% from the reported figure a year ago, according to the retailer’s annual Proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday (April 23).

Absent from this year’s top-five earning officers was Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart U.S. E-Commerce, who joined the retail giant in 2016 with the acquisition of Jet.com. Judith McKenna took over as CEO for Walmart International with the retirement of David Chessewright, who only worked part of the fiscal 2018 year in that role. In fiscal 2019, McKenna had a full year in that role which put her in the top five earners.

CEO Doug McMillon garnered total compensation of $23.618 million in fiscal 2019, an increase of 3.62% from the prior year. The majority of McMillon’s salary is performance-based and tied to sales, operating income, ethics and compliance goals, return on assets and stock performance. That is also true for the rest of the top four executives.

McMillon’s base salary rose to $1.406 million, of which $130,000 he chose to defer to the next year, according to the Proxy. His base salary increased 10% from a year ago. The bulk of McMillon’s compensation came in stock awards totaling $15.592 million. This is restricted stock with a future activation date. The cash incentive bonus earned by McMillon was $5.008 million, of which $1.2 million was deferred until next year.

McMillon also earned $1.091 million in deferred pension compensation benefits. Other compensation totaled $569,953, of which $392,435 were contributions to deferred compensation plans on his behalf, $156,137 for personal use of the company aircraft and $16,500 in 401(k) matching.

Greg Foran, CEO of Walmart U.S., was the second highest earning executive in the company. His total compensation rose to $13.486 million. Like McMillon, the majority of the compensation is tied to performance and deferred either in stock options or restricted stock awards. Foran’s cash bonus totaled $3.3 million last year, up from $2.921 million a year before. His use of the company aircraft totaled $131,438. The base salary earned by Foran last year totaled $1.104 million, slightly lower than the $1.051 million reported a year ago. The company provided roughly $50,000 in tax preparation and related services for Foran in connection with his prior expatriate assignments and positions based in the U.S. and outside of his home country.

Judith McKenna, CEO of Walmart International, earned total compensation of $12.922 million. The base salary was $1.044 million and the cash bonus totaled $2..268 million. She earned $9.186 million in stock awards and $283,000 million in other income. Her use of the company aircraft totaled $73,993 last year.

Brett Biggs, chief financial officer at Walmart, earned $9.42 million last year, up from $7.593 million in fiscal 2018. His base salary rose to $892,948, along with $260,00 which he deferred to next year. Biggs got a cash bonus of $2.223 million and his stock awards totaled $4.247 million. His use of the corporate aircraft totaled $121,500. His pension matching benefit was $181,434.

John Furner, CEO of Sam’s Club, rounded out the top five earners at Walmart this past year. His total compensation was $9.298 million. His total compensation was lower in fiscal 2019 because a large stock award he received when becoming an executive vice president in fiscal 2018. Furner’s salary totaled $799,425 and he deferred roughly $26,000 more until next year. The cash bonus totaled rose to $1,791 million, from $1.665 million in the prior year. His use of corporate aircraft was $156,733, the most of any of the top five executives last year.

OTHER PROXY INFO 
Walmart also noted in the Proxy filing its annual shareholder business meeting will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 5, at John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers. The annual celebration for Walmart employees will be held at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 7, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. Each event will also be available via webcast on Walmart’s corporate website.

During the business meeting, shareholders will elect the board of directors from the 12 nominees outlined in the Proxy. All of the candidates are already serving on the board and seeking re-election. They include:
• Cesar Conde, Chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises
• Steve Easterbrook, CEO of McDonald’s Corp.
• Tim Flynn, retired chairman, and CEO KPMG
• Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor
• Carla Harris, vice chair Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley
• Tom Horton, retired chairman of American Airlines
• Marissa Mayer, Co-founder Lumi Labs
• Doug McMillion, CEO of Walmart Inc.
• Greg Penner, partner at Madrone Capital Partners
• Steve Reiemund, retired dean of business, Wake Forest University
• Rob Walton, retired chairman of Walmart
• Steuart Walton, founder, and chair RZC Investments.

The average earnings for a Walmart director last year was $323,547, Directors can take their pay in stock awards, cash or a combination of the two. Walmart requires its directors to take a percentage of their pay in Walmart shares.