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Wal-Mart boss rewarded £16m
Evening Standard 23 Apr 2008
Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, owner of Asda, paid its chief executive a package worth $31.6 million (£15.9 million) last year.
Lee Scott's salary of $1.4 million included a bonus of $8.4 million and stock and option grants awarded previously and expensed in 2007. Scott received compensation valued at $29.7 million in 2006, including a salary of $1.3 million and a bonus of $4.29 million.
Wal-Mart's net profit climbed 13% last year as price cuts lured a big increase in bargain-hungry shoppers.
The giant company has been able to use its bargaining muscle to offer lower prices on medication, groceries and consumer electronics, just as consumers are feeling the pinch. It has been rewarded with a 6.4% share hike in the past year.
The company is the biggest revenue machine in the US. Sales in 2007 were $378.8 billion dollars more than ExxonMobil's $372.8 billion although the oil and gas major's profit of $40.6 billion was more than three times higher than Wal-Mart' s $12.7 billion.
