Zalando Brings Massive CEO Compensation Packages to Germany
The leaders of a fashion retail powerhouse could become Europe’s highest-paid executives if they meet moonshot growth targets.
(From left) Zalando co-CEOs David Schneider, Robert Gentz, and Rubin Ritter.
Photographer: Daniel Hofer/laif/Redux
Thrift and discretion have traditionally been seen as virtues in Germany—even in executive suites. Companies long resisted publishing individual compensation of top managers, whose pay is often a fraction of what many of their global peers receive. German chief executive officers rarely get more than €10 million ($11.2 million) annually. Volkswagen AG paid its CEO around €8 million last year, less than half the $22 million Mary Barra made at General Motors Co., even though VW’s sales are almost twice the size of GM’s. And on average, German leaders earn 97 times as much as employees, vs. 312 times as much at the biggest U.S. companies, according to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Yet a trio of German millennials could upend the status quo—and become Europe’s highest-paid executives in the process. Zalando SE’s three co-CEOs—Robert Gentz, David Schneider, and Rubin Ritter—stand to rake in a combined $570 million if they can more than triple the share price and roughly double the sales generated by Europe’s largest online fashion retailer within five years.