John Donahoe, president and chief executive officer of Nike Inc., saw his pay package fall by 11 percent last year — but still scored big with total compensation of $29.2 million.
But only a fraction of that was take home pay.
Donahoe received a salary of $1.6 million and incentive pay of $2 million for fiscal 2024, ended May 31.
The bulk of his compensation came in the form of stock and option awards, which were valued at a combined $19.2 million when they were first granted. But their full value will be determined by how Nike shares perform, a set up intended to link the fortunes of the CEO with those of stockholders.
Donahoe, who has been Nike CEO since 2020, also gave big last year. Included in his compensation is $6.3 million in matching charitable contributions made by the company.
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Nike, which is ready to step into the spotlight with athletes around the globe at the Paris Olympics this week, has hit something of a rough patch lately.
But Donahoe assured analysts this month that the company is “taking our challenges head on and we’re regaining our edge” and doubling down on product innovation.
The company is still far and ahead the leader in the sport space with sales up 10 percent to $51.2 billion last year.
Nike’s pay program was detailed to regulators in Nike’s proxy statement, which sets the agenda for the company’s annual meeting on Sept. 10.
While most annual meetings are relatively quick and straightforward affairs, signing off on an auditor and appointing directors, Nike — as high-profile powerhouse in the fashion space — draws more attention than most.
The annual meeting is scheduled to include on a number of shareholder proposals on topics ranging from a supplemental pay equity disclosure, a supply chain management report, worker-driven social responsibility, environmental targets and a divisive partnerships report that would look into Nike’s connections to groups deemed to be “evangelizing radical gender ideology to minors.”
Nike’s board opposes all of the shareholder proposals.
