(A correction has been made to this story. See end for details.)
The number of publicly traded companies in Arkansas is stable this year thanks to a couple of small IPOs and the federal government shutdown late last year, and Walmart executives continue to dominate the list of highest paid executives.
Inuvo Inc. of Little Rock is staying put for now. Its acquisition by ConversionPoint Technologies Inc. of Newport Beach, California, was expected to close in the first quarter but quietly fell apart in June after delays blamed on the government shutdown. (See Inuvo Acquisition Called Off, Shutdown Blamed.)
BSR Real Estate Investment Trust of Little Rock, which began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in May 2018, fills the spot on our annual list vacated by LiveRamp Holdings Inc. That’s the name adopted by the company long known as Acxiom Corp. when it sold off much of its business and relocated its headquarters from Little Rock to San Francisco in October.
RELATED: BSR REIT Moves Into Year 2 After IPO
White River Bancshares Inc., the parent company of Signature Bank of Arkansas, began trading over-the-counter in February. It fills the vacancy on the public financial institutions list created when Bear State Financial Inc. of Little Rock was acquired by privately held Arvest Bank in April 2018.
Still, the new arrivals are much smaller than the departures. BSR, which was formed a week into 2018, is tiny compared with what Acxiom used to be, with revenue last year of $64.1 million. And White River, with assets of $613.7 million, is barely a quarter the size of Bear State.
Dozens of publicly traded companies have come and gone in Arkansas in the half-century since Dillard’s Inc. went public in 1969. (Among Arkansas companies, only Tyson Foods, which went public in 1963, has been public longer.) But there’s never any question as to which will be No. 1 on the list, whether ranked by revenue or net income. Walmart Inc. of Bentonville, the largest company on the planet, recorded its second consecutive year in which revenue exceeded a half-trillion dollars, although its profit margin — always slim — shrank to less than 1.3%. Still, it earned $6.67 billion in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31.
Doug McMillon, Walmart’s president and CEO for more than five years, was the highest paid executive of an Arkansas publicly traded company again last year.
And while his base salary declined by $90 — unless a couple of figures were transposed in the annual proxy statement — his total compensation rose by $827,000 to $23.6 million.
Both the list of public company financial performance and the list of executives ranked by compensation are compiled using information reported to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in annual reports and proxy statements. (BSR, being traded in Canada, is subject to different reporting requirements.)
Proxy statements typically list compensation for five “named executive officers,” but some companies report fewer and some more, especially if there has been turnover in upper management during the fiscal year.
This year’s list ranks the total compensation for 88 executives from 17 companies. No salary data was included for White River Bancshares, which has not completed a full year as a public company.
No. 88 is John Bailey, CEO of BSR, who reported taking no salary and no bonus as CEO and received no fee for serving as a director.
The highest-paid newcomer to the list is also the highest-paid woman: Judith McKenna, who succeeded David Cheesewright as leader of Walmart’s international division when the retailer’s fiscal year began in February 2018.
Her total compensation of $12.9 million put her at No. 4 on the list, just behind Roger Jenkins, CEO of Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado.
There is one more newcomer in the top 10: Stewart Glendinning, who joined Tyson Foods at the end of 2017. His total compensation of $7.59 million came in at No. 9.
(Correction, Aug. 6, 2019: Tyson Foods went public in 1963. The original story incorrectly said no Arkansas company had been publicly traded longer than Dillard’s.)
Compensation for CEOs and Median Employees
America’s Car-Mart Inc., Bentonville
CEO: Jeffrey A. Williams
CEO Compensation: $3,095,784
CEO Rank: 12
Median employee compensation: $45,250
Employee rank: 7
ArcBest Corp., Fort Smith
CEO: Judy R. McReynolds
CEO Compensation: $4,075,378
CEO Rank: 10
Median employee compensation: $97,283
Employee rank: 2
Bank OZK, Little Rock
CEO: George G. Gleason II
CEO Compensation: $6,372,351
CEO Rank: 4
Median employee compensation: $41,179
Employee rank: 9
Dillard’s Inc., Little Rock
CEO: William T. Dillard II
CEO Compensation: $3,285,756
CEO Rank: 11
Median employee compensation: $23,352
Employee rank: 12
Home BancShares Inc., Conway
CEO: C. Randall Sims
CEO Compensation: $703,941
CEO Rank: 14
Median employee compensation: $39,983
Employee rank: 10
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., Lowell
CEO: John N. Roberts
CEO Compensation: $6,846,236
CEO Rank: 3
Median employee compensation: $62,150
Employee rank: 5
Murphy Oil Corp., El Dorado
CEO: Roger W. Jenkins
CEO Compensation: $13,370,132
CEO Rank: 2
Median employee compensation: $140,965
Employee rank: 1
Murphy USA Inc., El Dorado
CEO: R. Andrew Clyde
CEO Compensation: $5,938,171
CEO Rank: 5
Median employee compensation: $16,635
Employee rank: 14
Simmons First National Corp., Pine Bluff
CEO: George A. Makris
CEO Compensation: $4,585,590
CEO Rank: 9
Median employee compensation: $46,624
Employee rank: 6
Tyson Foods Inc., Springdale
CEO: Noel W. White
CEO Compensation: $5,736,937
CEO Rank: 6
Median employee compensation: $37,069
Employee rank: 11
Uniti Group Inc., Little Rock
CEO: Kenneth A. Gunderman
CEO Compensation: $5,145,598
CEO Rank: 7
Median employee compensation: $72,978
Employee rank: 3
USA Truck Inc., Van Buren
CEO: James D. Reed
CEO Compensation: $1,644,244
CEO Rank: 13
Median employee compensation: $41,677
Employee rank: 8
Walmart Inc., Bentonville
CEO: C. Douglas McMillon
CEO Compensation: $23,618,233
CEO Rank: 1
Median employee compensation: $21,952
Employee rank: 13
Windstream Holdings Inc., Little Rock
CEO: Anthony W. “Tony” Thomas
CEO Compensation: $5,055,702
CEO Rank: 8
Median employee compensation: $71,216
Employee rank: 4