Dollar Tree CEO Bob Sasser's 2011 pay package valued at US$6.1M, up 3% from a year ago, as company's net income rose 23% for the year

Cindy Allen

RICHMOND, Virginia , May 15, 2012 (Associated Press) – Discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc. gave its CEO, Bob Sasser, a pay package valued at $6.1 million for 2011, about 3 percent more than the previous year, according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing.

The pay package came in a year when the Chesapeake-based retail chain that sells goods for $1 or less saw its net income rise 23 percent to $488.3 million. Net sales increased nearly 13 percent to $6.63 billion and sales at stores open at least one year increased 6 percent in 2011.

Dollar stores, which benefited from shoppers trying to stretch their dollars in the recession, have expanded rapidly and seen sales continue to grow. They're also taking business away from retail giants like Wal-Mart Stores and Target.

The compensation package was disclosed in an annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Sasser's salary rose 11 percent to $1.08 million, the value of his stock awards grew 7 percent to $3.19 million, and he received a $1.8 million performance-based bonus.

The 60-year-old, who has led the company since 2004, also received other compensation worth $56,769.

His pay package was worth $5.96 million the previous year.

Dollar Tree, which operates more than 4,350 stores in the U.S. and Canada, also announced it will hold its annual meeting June 14 in Virginia Beach, where shareholders will elect seven members to its board.

The Associated Press formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards for 2011 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.

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