Calvin McDonald’s CEO-sized Pay at Lululemon
The Sweat Life is paying off for Calvin McDonald, chief executive officer of Lululemon Athletica Inc.
The CEO, who has promised to double the size of the company to sales of $12.5 billion by 2026, saw his compensation jump 25.3 percent last year to $13.3 million, according to the company’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Most of his take came in the form of stock and option awards, which were valued at a combined $8 million, although the ultimate payout will depend on the company’s stock price and performance goals, tying McDonald’s fortunes to the interests of shareholders.
Beyond that, McDonald also received a salary of $1.3 million and incentive pay of $4 million.
The CEO sketched out his ambitious vision for the brand at an analyst meeting last week.
“We know how our guests sweat,” McDonald told analysts, adding: “We’re in the early innings of growth.”
And part of that comes from name recognition which, despite the brand’s popularity, is still quite low.
The company said its brand awareness in the U.S. was just 25 percent.
“For comparison, many other brands in this space are at about 85 percent,” McDonald said. “So we see that as a really exciting opportunity as we continue to drive growth and get more product into more hands.”
Lululemon might be one the hottest fashion and retail companies in the market, but McDonald, while he gets a pretty penny, is not the highest paid.
This year, that distinction will likely go to Andrew Jassy, the new Amazon CEO, who received pay of $212.7 million for last year, although 99.5 percent of that came from stock awards. Also near the top of the pay scale were Walmart Inc. CEO Doug McMillon, who logged pay of $25.7 million, and Target Corp. CEO Brian Cornell, who registered compensation of $19.8 million, for the second straight year.
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