BBB Founders Kings Of Compensation

New York —If it's tough to make money producing home fashions products, it's a whole lot easier selling them.

Making that point the easy way are two of the savviest and most successful merchants in all of U.S. retailing, Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein. The two co-founders of Bed Bath & Beyond each pulled down a salary of $53.8 million in 2003, most of it in the form of stock options exercised.

Consistently among the retailing industry's highest-paid executives — and that doesn't include the value of the company stock they still own — Eisenberg and Feinstein each took home a cash salary of $981,000 during 2003, then layered on another $52.8 million in options exercised. That's the single biggest pay day recorded in the five years HTT has tracked retail compensation, and beats by more than $15 million the previous record holder, former Kohl's chairman William Kellogg, who took home $38.7 million in 2000.

By comparison, Norman Axelrod — chairman and CEO of rival Linens 'n Things, who came in 16th in this year's pay ranking — took home a relatively skimpy $4.4 million, a paycheck less than a tenth the size of Eisenberg's or Feinstein's.

Taking second place, as he did the previous year, was R. Lawrence Montgomery, CEO of Kohl's, who pulled down $30.2 million, well more than twice as much as the $12.2 million he earned in 2002.

Target CEO Robert Ulrich, the biggest earner in 2002, dropped to third spot last year with his take of $21.9 million. Still, that was roughly 20 percent more than the $18.2 million he banked in 2002.

Rounding out the top five earners were James Zimmerman, Federated chairman, with $16.4 million; and R. Brad Martin, Saks chairman and CEO, with $10.9 million.

Pointing out the disparity between retailers and manufacturers — the haves and have-notes of home fashions — Eisenberg and Feinstein of Bed Bath & Beyond, each with his paycheck of $53.8 million, took home almost 19 times as much last year as the highest paid vendor, Larry Liebenow at Quaker Fabric with just $2.9 million.

Looked at another way, Eisenberg and Feinstein each took home three times as much as all 25 manufacturing execs combined, who together pulled in just $17.3 million between them.