Ailing Sears blows a fortune on its CEO
The company spent nearly $800,000 on chartered flights for Lou D'Ambrosio last year. It also spent $30,000 on temporary housing for him -- and even paid some of his taxes.
Sears Holdings (SHLD) is closing as many as 182 stores in an effort to save money. But it has no problem shelling out for plane flights for its CEO.The company spent nearly $800,000 last year flying CEO Lou D'Ambrosio on private flights for his commute between his Philadelphia home and Sears' headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill. It also spent $30,000 on temporary housing for D'Ambrosio in Hoffman Estates and more than $10,000 on ground transportation and company-furnished vehicles.
Some of those perks classify as compensation for D'Ambrosio, and he would normally have to pay taxes on that income. But Sears took care of that, paying $18,200 in "tax gross-ups" on D'Ambrosio's tax bill.
D'Ambrosio became the CEO in February 2011 and received $9.9 million in total compensation last year, The Associated Press reports.
One analyst says in the following video that Sears is asking customers to pay for a poorer shopping environment than what competitors offer.
Post continues below.
All of this is disclosed in the company's proxy statement, recently filed with federal regulators. And it's up to shareholders to decide whether they feel comfortable with that level of spending. Since 60% of the company is owned by one person -- billionaire investor Eddie Lampert -- I'm sure there will be no issue with D'Ambrosio's flying the super-friendly skies.
Speaking of Lampert, he's about to buy a $40 million home on a semi-private island off of Florida's Biscayne Bay, The Wall Street Journal reports. The 17,000-square-foot home has seven bedrooms and is set on 2.7 acres.
Sears is no longer profitable. Annual sales have fallen 20% since fiscal 2006, the AP reports, and its earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization has plunged 92%.
Related Articles
- Sears to close 62 more stores
- Sears, Kmart: Beginning of the end?
- A list of 79 locations Sears is closing
- Sears avoids oblivion -- for now
| Tags: | Kim PetersonSHLD |
You are a fool to shop at Kmart or Sears. A simple review of their financial statments reveals their operating gross profit margins ( retail prices) 4 to 5% higher than competitors, and inventory turns is less than half. What does this mean? You are paying very high prices for old stale merchandise, in old outdated stores.
The sooner both these chains go out of business the better off the country will be. Let some good operators have the space. If you happen to shop there, check the expiration dates on anything perisable...it is probably outdated or short-dated. If they advertise something new or fresh when you go there they will not have it. May they die a quick death, stop the lingering pain of the slow process Kmart and Sears has followed in the past decade.
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
LATEST POSTS
All hail the bull market, which ended the week with a big rally. But it also is starting to look a little like 1987, which suffered an epic blow-out.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.

