Valassis CEO Reaps $7.4M Stock Payday, Dwarfing Previous Compensation
Revenues at Valassis (VCI), the supermarket coupon giant, may have tumbled nearly 4 percent in the last quarter, but CEO Al Schultz is cashing in: He just exercized or sold about $7.4 million in stock and options. Some of those options were priced as low as $1.32. Schultz cashed out tens of thousands of equities at around $16 and $17 a share.
Many of the sales were automatic, meaning that they were probably a scheduled part of his compensation. Valassis' stock spent much of the year in the gutter. NASDAQ threatened to de-list the company in February. Valassis also laid off at least 160 staff in a cost-cutting drive.
In April, VCI rose along with the general market (see chart below).
Then, in July, the company won a $300 million verdict in Michigan state court that in theory will break up the monopoly on supermarket advertising controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News America Marketing Group. The stock has been on a roll ever since.
Schultz's stock sales dwarf his compensation for the last two years.
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