Walmart’s top 6 execs earned a combined $60.311 million last year

The top 6 executives for Bentonville-based Walmart Inc. earned a combined $60.311 million last year, down from $70.61 million earned the year before. Stock awards, which is deferred income, was substantially higher for a few top execs and cash incentive pay was up for all.

CEO Doug McMillon had total compensation of $25.67 million last year, up 13.7% from the prior year, according to a proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His base salary was $1.277 million with $130,000 being deferred to next year. Base pay rose less than 1% year-over-year. McMillon’s stock incentives for deferred compensation rose 21% last year to $19.195 million. His cash incentive pay totaled $3.817 million, on par with the prior year. His other compensation rose 25% and deferred pension pay was down 25% from the prior year.

Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs had total annual compensation of $3.478 million. Earnings were down from $9.123 million the year before. Biggs’ base salary rose to $994,334 last year, up 6.35% year-over-year. He did not receive stock awards this past year as this is deferred compensation and he is retiring at the end of the year. His cash incentives totaled $1.857 million, up from $1.752 million and other compensation including pension earnings totaled $626,413, down slightly from a year ago

Biggs’ successor, 51-year-old John Rainey, will join Walmart on June 6. Biggs will work in a transitional role until his retirement and exit on Jan. 31. Rainey will receive a $5 million signing bonus, base salary of $1 million and a restricted stock package valued at $24 million.

Suresh Kumar is the second-highest-paid executive at Walmart as the chief global technology officer who joined the company in 2020 from Google. Kumar’s total compensation last year was $16.706 million, up from $11.736 million the year before. Kumar’s base salary was $1.05 million  compared to $1.021 million the previous year. His stock awards totaled $13.024 million, compared to $8.399 million in the prior year. Cash incentives totaled $2.355 million compared to $2.297 million in the prior year. Other compensation totaled $275,304 was on par with the previous year.

Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner had total earnings of $14.695 million, up from $11.331 million a year ago, a gain of 29.6%. His base salary of $1.088 million included $52,000 he deferred to next year. Base pay rose 15.26% from the year before. Furner’s deferred stock awards totaled $10.573 million last year, up 36.8% from the prior year. His cash incentive was $2.442 million, up from $2.125 million year over year. Furner’s pension and other compensation also increased last year to a combined $590.381, up 9.76%.

Walmart’s two highest-ranking females earned less than Furner who holds a similar job, albeit on a larger scale. Walmart International CEO Judith McKenna earned compensation of $13.9 million, up 15.6% compared to $12.02 million in the prior year. Her base salary totaled $1.111 million, up from $1.088 million from the prior year. Stock awards rose to $9.61 million, up from $7.24 million in the prior year. McKenna’s cash incentive pay was $2.49 million last year on par with the year prior. Her pension and other compensation totaled $690,800, and was down substantially from $1.2 million in the prior year.

McKenna has been in the International CEO job for four years and four months and her base salary is still 20% less than Furner’s who has been in his role for just two years and six months, McKenna’s total compensation of $13.9 million was 5.7% less than Furner’s last year. Her stock awards were also substantially lower than his. Their annual cash incentives were similar, with McKenna earning a bit more than Furner.

Sam’s Club CEO Kathryn McLay earned total pay of $11.53 million, down from $12.95 million in the prior year. McLay has the smallest base salary of all the other named execs at $799,575, up from $780,000 the year before. She has been in her role for two years and six months, the same time as Furner. In that time her base pay has risen by 24.8%. Furner’s base pay has risen by 28.4% in that same period.

McLay’s stock award totaled $8.644 million last year, down from $10.225 million the year before. Her cash incentive bonus was $1.792, up slightly from the prior year, while pension and other compensation totaled $273,000, up from $197,000 the prior year.

Walmart’s top executives’ pay was a reflection of overall growth in sales revenue of 2.4% from the prior year. Walmart Stores posted revenue in the previous fiscal year of $573 billion and $13.678 billion in net income. Walmart U.S. comp sales rose 6.4% from the previous year, and Walmart U.S. e-commerce growth rose 11%. Furner’s bonus and incentive pay is tied to these metrics.

Sam’s Club posted comp sales up 9.8% with membership income rising 11.3%. McLay’s bonus pay is tied to the growth and performance of Sam’s Club’s U.S. business.

Walmart’s international portfolio is shrinking and that had a negative impact on the segment’s total sales and profits for last year. Walmart International sales decreased 16.8%, negatively affected by $32.6 billion related to divestitures. Other markets like Mexico and India performed well and helped the segment’s overall performance which is used to determine McKenna’s incentive pay.