From WWD Issue 03/24/2011
Millard “Mickey” Drexler, chairman and chief executive officer of J. Crew Group Inc., has a new contract that will keep him on the job until after his 70th birthday.
As part of the acquisition of J. Crew by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners that closed on March 7, Drexler, 66, signed a new employment agreement that runs through the fourth anniversary of the acquisition in 2015. After that date, it is automatically renewed for one-year extensions without limit unless Drexler or the company provides notice of nonrenewal at least three months before its anniversary.
Drexler, who retains an equity interest in the firm he joined as ceo in 2003, will continue to receive a base salary of $200,000 and will remain eligible for a cash bonus with a target amount of $1.2 million, as well as time- and performance-based equity awards.
Details were disclosed in J. Crew’s annual report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week. There were no modifications in the contracts of Jenna Lyons, president and executive creative director, or James Scully, chief administrative officer and chief financial officer, both of whom continue to work on the basis of automatic one-year extensions unless notice of nonrenewal is furnished at least four months prior to their anniversary dates. Their base salaries are $675,000 and $600,000, respectively, although their 2010 salaries were $885,000 and $661,000.
Excluding a cash bonus still to be calculated, Drexler last year earned $4.9 million. His $5.8 million in 2009 total earnings included a discretionary cash bonus of $2 million granted “in recognition of both individual and company performance.”
For 2010, the J. Crew ceo is eligible for cash bonuses ranging from $267,000 to up to $2 million if the company achieved earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — EBITDA — of at least $280.3 million. Its income from operations — equivalent to earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT — was $214 million last year. J. Crew expects to disclose Drexler’s bonus no later than April 15.
