Macy's paid $9M in bonuses to top executives after slashing 3,900 jobs

Macy's doled out $9 million in equity bonuses to its top executives just two weeks after the retailer said it would cut thousands of jobs in its corporate office.

CEO Jeff Gennette received restricted stock worth about $3.6 million on July 9, according to a regulatory filing. The other five, including legal chief Elisa Garcia, Chief Operating Officer John Harper and Chief Transformation Officer Danielle Kirgan, received sums ranging from $900,000 to $3 million, according to the filings.

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It's been a bleak few months for Macy's, which has suffered financially as a result of the coronavirus-induced lockdowns across the country. A month before the shutdowns started, the retailer said it would close about 125 stores -- roughly one-fifth of all locations -- and cut 2,000 jobs over the next three years.

But in May, Macy's warned of nearly $1 billion in operating losses in the first quarter and said it would turn into a "smaller company." At the end of June, the department-store chain said it would lay off about 3,900 employees in corporate and management positions.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
M	MACY'S INC.	18.73	-0.28	-1.47%
JCP	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
JWN	NORDSTROM INC.	19.24	-0.48	-2.43%

Macy's, which had about 123,000 employees at the end of January, said it expects to save about $365 million in fiscal 2020 as a result of the layoffs.

Since the start of the year, the company's shares have plummeted about 57 percent.

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The outbreak has been a catalyst for bankruptcies among small and large retailers alike as they grapple with a sudden drop in consumer demand and a dramatic shift toward online shopping. Stores that have declared bankruptcy include J.C. Penney, J.Crew and Neiman Marcus; others, like Nordstrom, have announced sharp cuts to their staff.

Macy's said in a statement provided to FOX Business that their top executives typically receive their annual equity allotments in mid-March. However, the board delayed those grants this year and issued them last week instead.

"We will fully describe the 2020 compensation plans in the 2021 proxy filing," the company said.

At the beginning of July, the company also reversed salary reductions among top executives that had been in place since April. Gennette, who took no salary during that time period, is now back at his $1.3 million annual rate.

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