Abercrombie’s CEO Took A 36 Percent Pay Cut Last Year

by Justin Fenner | 11:46 am, April 22nd, 2011

Michael Jeffries oversees one of the biggest apparel brands in the world, but that hasn’t stopped his paycheck from getting smaller and smaller. WWD reports that the CEO of the Abercrombie brands took a pay cut last year that’s more than most people make in a lifetime.

But that doesn’t mean his paycheck is small by any means. Jeffries’ total compensation shrank to $23.2 million last year from $36.3 million in 2009. Jeffries’ base salary is $1.5 million, and there was no change in that number from 2009 to 2010. But the rest of the compensation package comes in the form of stock options and bonuses. Jeffries’ bonus last year was $2.3 million, but even though he didn’t take a bonus in 2009, the whole enchilada still shrank.

And that’s largely because of technicalities and regulations. Jeffries’ 2009 package included a grant of stock appreciation rights on four million shares of the company, which he won’t get until 2013. But the Securities and Exchange Commission still requires appreciation rights and stock options to be declared at their fair market value even if those rights and options haven’t been cashed out, and four million shares of a successful company is a lot of money. As of this posting, shares of ANF are worth $69.61.

At the end of the day, though, Jeffries is still making a whole lotta cash. So much that he’s even getting paid not to use lavish company perks:

Jeffries’ other compensation rose to $4.6 million last year, triple the 2009 level, but $4 million of that amount was in a onetime lump sum payment in exchange for which he agreed to limit his personal use of the company aircraft to $200,000 a year or else reimburse A&F for any additional amounts.

With an ice-cold $4 million in the bank, we don’t think that would be a problem.

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Takes Big Pay Cut [WWD]