Home Depot Chief Executive Frank Blake’s pay dipped slightly last year, to $11 million from $11.1 million the year before, but the top executives at two other big Georgia companies got healthy raises in 2013.
Newell Rubbermaid CEO Michael Polk’s pay jumped 13 percent last year to almost $10.9 million. Most of Polk’s pay raise at the Atlanta consumer products company came from a bigger bonus of $1.7 million and a larger stock award of almost $7.2 million.
Likewise, Calhoun-based flooring manufacturer Mohawk Industries increased CEO Jeffrey Lorberbaum’s compensation by almost 22 percent last year, to $5.2 million.
Pay cuts, however, were more common in the executive suites at Georgia’s large public companies in 2013 compared to most recent years. More than 40 percent of those firms cut CEO compensation last year, even though most companies logged healthy profits and stock gains in 2013.
Some experts said that’s partly because a federal rule enacted in 2010 that gives shareholders a non-binding vote on companies’ executive pay practices is pressing corporate boards to set tougher performance targets for pay raises than in the past.
In Home Depot’s case, profits rose almost 19 percent in its 2014 fiscal year ended in February, to $5.4 billion. Likewise, the building supply giant’s stock price rose by about the same percentage during that period.
But Blake’s overall pay stayed flat. The company said he declined a raise in his $1.1 million salary and his stock-related awards, which totaled $7.2 million.
Blake also got a $2.6 million performance bonus, up from $2.5 million the previous year. But Home Depot said the value of perks such as use of a company jet dropped to $122,837 in 2013, from $291,889 the previous year.
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