Urban Outfitters CEO gets compensation worth $29.9M including $26.9M in stock options

Urban Outfitters CEO compensation worth $29.9M

NEW YORK — Urban Outfitters CEO Glen Senk received compensation valued at $29.9 million in 2009, sharply higher than a year ago because of a hefty stock grant, according to an Associated Press analysis of a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Senk, 53, received a base salary of $1 million and a bonus of $8,003. He received a performance based bonus of $2 million.

The bulk of his award came in the form of stock awards worth $26.9 million on the day they were granted. That includes a grant of 1 million stock units set to vest over the next 7 years. However, all of the stock might not vest if some performance benchmarks aren’t met.

The award is designed as a way to give Senk “clear directives regarding the company’s longer term growth in revenue and profitability, and an opportunity to achieve a significant ownership position in the Company,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Urban Outfitters said the grant, along with Senk’s other compensation “represents a competitive total compensation opportunity over the next seven years.”

He also received other compensation of $4,273, mostly from a 401(k) savings plan match.

A year ago, Senk’s total compensation was valued at $4 million, including stock options valued at $2 million.

The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company’s board placed on the executive’s total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, making the AP total different in most cases than the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Urban Outfitters, which operates its namesake stores as well as Anthropologie and Free people, fared better than others during the consumer spending slowdown as consumers responded to its eclectic fashion offerings, but it was not completely immune.

Profit for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 its profit rose 10 percent while sales rose nearly 6 percent to $1.94 billion. Shares doubled during the fiscal year.