Wal- Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive Michael T. Duke received a compensation package totaling $18.1 million last fiscal year, down 3.1%, largely because he received less cash under an incentive program.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Duke's cash incentive compensation fell 25% to $2.9 million in the fiscal year ended in January. The cash was significantly below the target payout because operating income at the world's largest retailer was below the goals set in the compensation plan, the filing said, though it noted earnings nonetheless rose last year.
The value of his stock awards— Duke's most lucrative category of compensation— increased 3.3% to $13.1 million, and his salary increased 2.6% to $1.3 million.
Recently, Wal- Mart has been fending off the sales pressure of rising gasoline prices and doggedly high unemployment, as well as growing competition from brick-and-mortor dollar stores and online retailers like Amazon.com Inc. Its strategy has been to lower its own prices, a strategy that has cut into profit margin.
However, Wal- Mart's U.S. same-store sales increased in the second half of the last fiscal year, breaking a streak of declines stretching back more than two years.
This story first appeared on WSJ.com.