Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. cut Chief Executive Officer Steven Temares’s compensation 13 percent to $16.9 million following years of investor pushback against pay practices at the retailer of household goods.
Steven Temares
Temares received a $3.97 million salary and $10.4 million in company stock tied to performance for the most recent fiscal year, both unchanged from the prior year, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. His annual grant of stock options was cut by half to $2.49 million. Temares, 58, has led the company since 2003.
Bed Bath & Beyond has been rocked by a slowdown in shopping-center traffic and a shift to e-commerce. Many of its housewares and home-furnishing items can be found on Amazon.com Inc. and other online sites. Same-store sales — a closely watched measured — dipped 0.6 percent last year. Its shares fell 14 percent in the 12 months ended Feb. 25, compared with a 24 percent increase in the S&P 500 Index including dividends.
The Union, New Jersey-based company logged less than 23 percent shareholder support for its executive-pay program at its 2016 annual meeting, the lowest result for S&P 500 companies that year. On average, companies in the index typically secure approval from investors holding more than 90 percent of outstanding shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg — a threshold Bed Bath & Beyond hasn’t exceeded since 2012.
Over the past year, members of the board and management spoke to investors holding more than half of the shares. Concerns included the magnitude of Temares’s compensation and performance hurdles for executive stock awards that weren’t challenging enough.
In response, the board lengthened the performance period for part of the bosses’ stock and adjusted the metrics that determine payout. It also cut the CEO’s target compensation.
A spokeswoman for the company didn’t immediately respond to a call and an email seeking comment.