Ryan Marshall, PulteGroup’s president and chief executive officer, took home $12.5 million last year, less than previous years because of how interest rates dampened growth among homebuilders, according to the company’s annual proxy statement.
Marshall had compensation of $14.5 million in 2022 and $16.1 million the year before that, according to the proxy filed by the Atlanta-based builder.
Marshall, who has held those positions at the Atlanta-based, homebuilding giant since September 2016, was paid a base salary of $1 million, which was supplemented by stock awards and other incentives.
His compensation was higher in previous years because in those years, Pulte profit growth was robust, while in 2023, the headwind of higher interest rates held back the business. PulteGroup last year had revenues of $16.1 billion, and net income of $2.59 billion, both up marginally from 2022 and reflected in more modest stock and incentive pay, company officials said.
The other current executives whose compensation was listed in the proxy were:
- Robert T. O’Shaughnessy, executive vice president and chief financial officer, who had a base salary of $750,000 and total compensation of $4.9 million.
- Matthew Koart, executive vice president and chief operating officer, who had a base salary of $467,308 and total compensation of $4.2 million.
- Todd Sheldon, executive vice president and general counsel, who had a base salary of $550,000 and total compensation of $2.7 million.
- Kevin Henry, executive vice president and chief people officer, who had a base salary of $294,039 and total compensation of $1.6 million.
U.S. securities regulations now require that companies calculate the ratio between CEO pay and the compensation for the median paycheck of an employee.
In 2022, American CEOs were paid 344 times as much as a typical worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The left-leaning group has criticized the growth of executive pay in recent years, comparing the ratio to that in 1965 when pay for a top executive was 21 times that of a typical worker, according to EPI.
PulteGroup has about 6,500 employees and the median pay for a Pulte employee is $103,517 a year, making Marshall’s compensation 121 times that of the median, according to the proxy.
Among the company’s homebuilding peers are a number who pay their top executives more.
At D.R. Horton, Chairman Donald Horton was paid $32.7 million last year, according to the company’s recent proxy statement. Executive Vice Chair David Auld was paid $32.1 million.
The Texas-based company paid CEO and President Paul Romanowski $14.2 million, according to the proxy.
KB Home paid Jeffrey Metzger, its chair and CEO, $15.7 million last year, according to the California-based company’s recent proxy statement.
Toll Brothers paid Douglas Yearly, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania-based company, $15.2 million.
Florida-based Lennar Corp. has not yet released its 2024 proxy statement. But in last year’s, the company said it paid Stuart Miller, executive chair and co-CEO, $34.3 million. Jonathan Jaffe, co-chief CEO and president of Lennar, was paid $29.1 million.
PulteGroup includes a number of brands, among them Pulte Homes, Centex, Del Webb, DiVosta Homes and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods.
The proxy is the company’s preliminary filing and will be finalized in the next few days, the company said.
