Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Report: Macy's execs get bonuses day after cutting 7,000 jobs
ABC ACTION NEWS ^

Posted on 02/04/2009 10:33:03 AM PST by Wolfie

Report: Macy's execs get bonuses day after cutting 7,000 jobs

NEW YORK, NY -- Macy's Inc. announced Monday that it would cut 7,000 jobs, almost 4 percent of its work force, and reduced its contributions to its employees' retirement funds and slash its dividend to preserve cash amid a severe pullback in consumer spending.

But a day after Macy’s executives announced the lay-offs, Cincinnati.com reports that top company officials received a final installment on $1.39 million in performance bonuses from 2004.

According to Cincinnati.com:

"The stock credit plan created in March 2004 brought five top executives “phantom stock units” or stock credits after a three-year holding period ended on Saturday, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday.

Half of the incentive was paid in February 2008 with the remaining amount paid Monday."

Department stores have been especially hard-hit by the poor economy as shoppers cut spending and turn to discount stores. Last month, Fresno, Calif.-based department store chain Gottschalks Inc. put itself up for sale and said it had filed to reorganize in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Dallas-based Neiman Marcus Group Inc. said this month that it was cutting about 375 jobs, or 3 percent of its work force.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bonuses; layoffs; macys; retail
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-138 next last
To: peggybac

The parent company (formerly “Federated Department Stores”) was renamed “Macy’s.”


41 posted on 02/04/2009 11:04:04 AM PST by Arguendo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: indylindy

The employee cuts would not be so bad...if the executives didn’t pocket the savings as bonuses.

Macy’s did nothing for their shareholders or their company by paying off their executives

I have a small business...and it wouldn’t exist if I decided to pay myself a bonus for not making money. You can tell by a lot of the comments on here that people are clueless on running a business


42 posted on 02/04/2009 11:04:35 AM PST by UCFRoadWarrior (The UnHoly Grail of Anti-Americanism: Illegal Aliens, Globalism, Free Trade, WTO, UN,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Arguendo

And taking it to its logical conclusion, Macy’s should never let anyone go, even those who barely work for the pay they receive. After all those lazy folks will just go on welfare.


43 posted on 02/04/2009 11:04:54 AM PST by keepitreal (Obama brings change: an international crisis (terrorism) within 6 months)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL

Did Macy’s cut retirement programs??


44 posted on 02/04/2009 11:06:44 AM PST by keepitreal (Obama brings change: an international crisis (terrorism) within 6 months)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: UCFRoadWarrior
as we the taxpayer fund those 7000 until they find another job

I'd be willing to bet Macy's has paid plenty in taxes. I'd also be willing to bet Macy's paid plenty in unemployment taxes. So, forcing a company to keep workers it no longer needs is a better solution? Are you certain you're on the right site? That sounds like DU talk.

Besides, this was contractual compensation and the company is making money.

45 posted on 02/04/2009 11:06:47 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Obama - what you get when you mix Affirmative Action with the Peter Principle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Wolfie

Macy’s didn’t take TARP/taxpayer monies - they are entitled to do what they want.


46 posted on 02/04/2009 11:07:16 AM PST by indcons (An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: peggybac

I used to be part owner of a small business. If sales were down or taxes were to high, we had to let people go.

What worries me about this demonization of business is that we are playing into the leftist hands.

Soon they will be running everything, you will be forced to run a business and do the work and the government will pay you whatever they think you should get for the trouble.

We are on a very slippery slope and people need to reject this notion. All this hate for business is generated by the politics running DC.

It irritates me because most business owners are good hard working people already up against an unfriendly government who make it hard to survive.


47 posted on 02/04/2009 11:07:30 AM PST by dforest (life is now good again....he has been inaugurated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL

Good points...I can understand

There are just too many comments on here from people who have no clue on running a business...or what goes on in running a business.

The majority of Americans who work for a living will take cuts in pay to save their jobs and companies....unfortunately too many executives these days lack the same loyalty to their employers.

And, we are getting a lot of “failed executive love” from the “living in parents basement” crowd


48 posted on 02/04/2009 11:08:51 AM PST by UCFRoadWarrior (The UnHoly Grail of Anti-Americanism: Illegal Aliens, Globalism, Free Trade, WTO, UN,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Arguendo

Oh, I didn’t realize that. Thanks!!


49 posted on 02/04/2009 11:09:03 AM PST by peggybac (Sexual French Silk - don't erraticate me!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: keepitreal

If the company isn’t making money, no. I should not be compensated when the company is not making money

Of course, I would never defer a bonus in the first place. If a “performance bonus” or “profit bonus” was deserved in the first place....it would not have been deferred. Obviously they really didnt deserve the 2004 bonus if it had to be deferred


50 posted on 02/04/2009 11:12:10 AM PST by UCFRoadWarrior (The UnHoly Grail of Anti-Americanism: Illegal Aliens, Globalism, Free Trade, WTO, UN,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Wolfie
Did Macy's get stimulus money?

If they didn't, it is no ones business other than their own. They are a privately owned company that is free to layoff people and/or give bonuses.

51 posted on 02/04/2009 11:12:47 AM PST by Dustbunny (Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. The Gipper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL
The employees who were laid off were probably at-will employees, so it's not like they had to agree to make "concessions" for the sake of the company--Macy's had the right to lay them off if it chose to do so.

If this was a smart business decision there would be nothing unreasonable about paying its executives performance bonuses. It's possible for an executive to perform relatively well in a downturn as well as a growth economy even if the company's profits decrease; bonuses should reward executives for performance relative to peers and other benchmarks rather than absolute performance.

52 posted on 02/04/2009 11:13:17 AM PST by Arguendo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: UCFRoadWarrior

I own a small business also. So, if I had worked out a compensation package where I kept my bonus in the company for a couple of years, I’m not entitled to receive it and layoff employees in anticipation of lowered future sales.

You sound like my employees. They think no one should get laid off if I get paid at all.


53 posted on 02/04/2009 11:14:49 AM PST by keepitreal (Obama brings change: an international crisis (terrorism) within 6 months)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Wolfie

It may be legal and stupid at the same time.


54 posted on 02/04/2009 11:16:16 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UCFRoadWarrior

My point is this. It isn’t our business in a free country to tell anyone what to do in a business as long as it is legal.

It is not illegal to cut employees, nor is it illegal to take a bonus. If the employees costs are ruining your bottom line so that you make no profit, I do not see the problem.

As to whether it is moral, that is another thing. It is also immoral to have the government in control of peoples lives. That is where we are headed.


55 posted on 02/04/2009 11:16:36 AM PST by dforest (life is now good again....he has been inaugurated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: DustyMoment; All

“It’s THEIR money, NOT ours!!!”

WRONG!

It’s the shareholders money! Give them a chance to vote on pay packages for once.


56 posted on 02/04/2009 11:18:23 AM PST by Red in Blue PA (If guns cause crime, then all of mine are defective.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: UCFRoadWarrior

You nailed it.


57 posted on 02/04/2009 11:18:41 AM PST by Red in Blue PA (If guns cause crime, then all of mine are defective.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: UCFRoadWarrior
I have a small business...

Very small, I bet, given your abysmal understanding of economics and your bizarre notion that businesses shouldn't just try to make a profit, but also have an obligation to take care of unprofitable employees rather than laying them off.

58 posted on 02/04/2009 11:19:35 AM PST by Arguendo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Arguendo

First...Macy’s is a “public” company...not private. They sell stock and have shareholders. Learn the differences in those before criticizing my post.

Obviously Macy’s did not make a profit, or much of one...if they had to lay off 7000 people...cut benefits of the remaining...and compensate executives for bonuses not really earned.

Too many on here glorify failed executives....who do not make money for their companies. CEOs and executives of public companies are still “employees”....management (not labor) but “employees”

Would you prefer underperforming non-management employees to get a bonus too?

Of course, you wont address the tax burden put on the rest of us for the 7000 now-unemployed Macy’s executives....is that kind of Socialism OK with you?


59 posted on 02/04/2009 11:21:16 AM PST by UCFRoadWarrior (The UnHoly Grail of Anti-Americanism: Illegal Aliens, Globalism, Free Trade, WTO, UN,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL

I agree. It shows how business has lost their minds recently and think they are somehow entitled to the huge salaries-almost a welfare mentality.


60 posted on 02/04/2009 11:21:29 AM PST by nyconse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-138 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson