Of all the Kroger Co. shareholders hurting from last week's plunge in the company's stock price, CEO Rodney McMullen had reason to moan more than most.
Kroger shares took back-to-back hits Thursday and Friday. First, its projection of lower profit took the stock price down 19 percent and made the Cincinnati-based company the biggest loser in U.S. stock markets. One day later, Kroger crumbled another 9 percent after Amazon.com Inc. announced it would be buying Whole Foods Market.
The double-dose of bad news put Kroger shares in the markdown bin. The stock, which closed last Wednesday at $30.28, ended the week at $22.29. For a while Friday, it was down to $20.46.
McMullen, Kroger's CEO since 2014, took a massive hit because he owns 3.5 million shares, according to the latest report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The $7.99 drop in share price cost him $27.6 million in overall net worth. That's more than his total compensation of the last two years combined. He received $13.2 million in 2016, $11.8 million in 2015.
The consolation to McMullen, a 37-year Kroger employee, is that the $27.6 million was likely just a paper loss, unless he sold shares during their descent.
CONTACT JAMES McNAIR: [email protected], 513-914-2736 or @jmacnews on Twitter
