Increases in stock and option awards were solely responsible for Ralph Lauren’s 7.2 percent boost in overall compensation, to $29.7 million, last year.
During fiscal 2011, Lauren, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., saw the sum of his stock and option awards move up 37.4 percent to $8.6 million from $6.3 million in fiscal 2010. Those amounts reflect the “grant date fair value” of the awards and, because of vesting schedules and fluctuating stock prices, won’t necessarily be realized by Lauren.
His salary remained unchanged at $1.25 million, and his cash bonus — technically “nonequity incentive plan compensation” — was unchanged at $19.5 million, the maximum amount provided for in both years.
Details of Lauren’s compensation were disclosed in the preliminary proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.
Related Galleries
The document highlights the fact that there were no changes in the base salaries, bonus opportunities or equity award provisions for named executive officers between 2010 and 2011, “even though fiscal 2011 net income before taxes exceeded fiscal 2010 by approximately 20 percent.”
The only column on Lauren’s compensation showing a decline was “all other compensation,” which fell just over 50 percent to $332,000 from $676,000, as reimbursement for personal travel fell to $200,000 from $558,000.
Roger Farah, Polo’s president and chief operating officer, had a 1.1 percent increase in overall compensation to $19.5 million from $19.3 million. His salary and cash bonus were unchanged at $900,000 and $9.9 million, respectively, while stock and option awards rose 2.1 percent to $8.5 million, versus $8.4 million. Total compensation for Jackwyn Nemerov, executive vice president, was essentially unchanged at $10.1 million.
Polo’s 2011 profits rose 18.4 percent, to $567.6 million, as revenues were up 13.7 percent to $5.66 billion.