An Extra Bushel of Money, Just for Being You

In the executive pay sweepstakes, there always seems to be something better - and bigger - than the other guy's.

It might not be the jackpot but Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive Michael Jeffries will be pretty darn close later this year when he is slated to receive an eye-popping $68 million in company stock as a "career bonus."

The 16-year veteran gets the award in the form of 1 million shares on December 31, as part of an employment agreement Abercrombie & Fitch signed with him in 2003.

At the time, the pact was worth around $30 million, but the higher current stock price potentially raises the amount to more than twice that for Jeffries, 63, who has made the company a major retail brand since he joined it in 1992. It operates more than 1,000 stores as Abercrombie, Hollister Co., Ruehl, and Gilly Hicks.

Jeffries, who is chairman as well as chief executive, will also receive an additional $6 million for staying after December 31. That retention bonus was sliced in half after a company, based in New Albany, Ohio, settled a shareholder lawsuit complaining of excessive compensation in 2005, and tied his compensation to performance and eliminated his stock options for two years.

His lifetime bonus comes on top of his usual, and large, annual bonuses, options, restricted shares ... and, incidentally, his $1.5 million salary. That all added up to $11.4 million last year, and a whopping $26 million in 2006. That also doesn't count what's estimated to be as much as $100 million in "golden coffin" payment if he dies while he's still working for Abercrombie.

However, the company, which did not return a call for comment, did report a net profit margin of 12.7 percent last year - pretty remarkable for a specialty retailer.

by Elizabeth Olson

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