Supervalu Chief Paid $20.4 Million
Monday May 7, 3:03 pm ET
By Joshua Freed, AP Business Writer

Supervalu Paid CEO Noddle $20.4 Million Last Year

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Stock options and other equity awards boosted Supervalu's pay for Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Noddle to a package valued at $20.4 million during a year when the company grew into the nation's third-largest grocer.
The company's proxy, filed Monday, said Noddle's pay included a base salary of $1.1 million and stock option and restricted share grants worth $17.7 million.

Noddle, who has run Supervalu since 2001, engineered the purchase of 1,100 Albertson's stores last year. Supervalu awarded him $9.6 million in restricted stock "to retain his services and maintain his continued leadership" including integrating the Albertson's and Supervalu operations.

The award vests over five years, starting in 2009, but will shrink if Supervalu's share price fails to stay above $32.77, which is where they were on the day the restricted shares were granted. The proxy said any shares that fail to vest because Supervalu's share price has fallen can vest the next year as long as Supervalu's share price rises above $32.77.

Supervalu Inc. shares traded around $47 on Monday.

The restricted stock also requires Noddle to deliver a succession plan to Supervalu directors.

Supervalu also granted Noddle $2.2 million in stock options in anticipation of the Albertson's closing. In addition, it gave him $1.8 million in "reload" stock options under a 2002 stock option plan.

Noddle's pay also included $12,025 for financial planning, $16,151 for life insurance, and $9,768 for personal use of the company plane.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation (which Noddle didn't receive) and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.