The holidays came early for five J.Crew executives, including creative director Jenna Lyons and Chief Operating Officer James Scully.
The company, which sold $500 million of debt last week to fund a payout to the private equity companies that own it, also paid some of that money to top executives, who rolled over vested stock options in J.Crew as part of its buyout in March 2011.
Lyons got $1.9 million and Scully got $1.2 million, according to a filing today. Libby Wadle, president of the J.Crew brand, got $949,426; Lynda Markoe, executive vice president of human resources, received $474,713; and Stuart Haselden, chief financial officer, got $103,487. That would suggest Lyons and Scully have the most shares.
J.Crew said it's making the "dividend equivalent payments" instead of reducing the exercise price of the executives' rollover stock options. Chief Executive Officer Mickey Drexler isn't receiving such a payout because he doesn't hold such options, according to the filing. Drexler entered a different agreement when the buyout occurred.
The figures are large compared to the annual salaries of the executives. Lyons, for example, most recently made $1.8 million while Scully and Wadle made $1.2 million and $1.1 million, filings show.
TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners, which took J.Crew private a little more than two years ago for $3 billion, received the bulk of the proceeds from the dividend deal.