Today’s In-Store Special: Multimillion Dollar Paychecks

Posted on | October 3, 2008 | No Comments

While we await the House’s approval of the Bailout Plan Economic Rescue plan, I thought I’d distract you with tales from a world a smidge closer to Main Street–the retail industry.

My friends and I used to joke about what a nightmare it would be to end up working retail. Wouldn’t you know it, I did…and I loved it. I also earned a great living. Though, not as much as the folks featured in Stores magazine’s 2008 Retail CEO Pay Report.

I’ve included the top 20 highest paid retail CEO’s here, but you can check out the full list on the Stores’ website.

CEO	Company	Total Compensation Most Recent Fiscal Year
Robert Ulrich	Target	$36,423,691
H. Lee Scott	Wal-Mart	$29,672,533
Michael Jeffries	Abercrombie & Fitch	$26,196,918
Ralph Lauren	Polo Ralph Lauren	$25,859,764
Thomas Ryan	CVS Caremark	$24,020,009
Robert Keegan	Goodyear	$17,313,118
Margaret Whitman	eBay	$15,741,036
Terry Lundgren	Macy’s	$15,647,117
Ronald Sargent	Staples	$13,711,035
Andrea Jung	Avon Products	$13,320,565
James Skinner	McDonald’s	$12,709,492
David Novak	Yum! Brands	$12,432,093
Jeffrey Noddle	SUPERVALU Inc.	$11,896,091
Myron Ullman	JCPenney	$10,383,614
Lew Frankfort	Coach	$9,865,503
Leslie Wexner	Limited Brands	$9,379,185
David Dillon	Kroger	$8,254,537
Christopher Connor	Sherwin-Williams	$7,353,018
Michael Kowalski	Tiffany & Co.	$7,036,945
Steven Burd	Safeway	$7,003,993

Clearly, Bob Ulrich is a man to be envied. His $36.4M paycheck actually includes a 260.3% pay increase over last year. I remember dancing a jig over my 5% merit increase.

But, lest you become jealous and start thinking that every retail CEO is getting the big bucks, consider the case of poor James Sinegal, CEO of Costco. Sinegal had to scrape by on a mere $454,629.

If you’re scraping by, and trying to figure out your next career move, consider a retail career. All of the top companies are hiring. It’s not too late to get your foot on a rung in this high-paying ladder.

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