Would You Take a Pay Cut to Help Your Staff? Container Store CEO Cuts Salary By Almost $100,000 to Guarantee Pay Raises for Employees The CEO's pay cut comes amid declining sales for The Container Store.
By Sam Silverman Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- The news comes after the Container Store laid off a portion of its staff in May.
- The CEO earned a total of $2.57 million last year.
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The Container Store CEO is taking one for the team.
Satish Malhotra, who has been CEO of the company since 2021, is taking a voluntary 10% pay cut to ensure his staffers receive their annual merit increases, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Malhotra's salary will drop from $925,000 to $832,000 for six months, effective October 1, according to a federal filing. The nearly $100,000 pay reduction comes after he earned $2.57 million in compensation, including stock awards, last year. His normal salary is expected to be reinstated on April 1.
Related: 5 Container Store Essentials for Marie Kondo-ing your Workspace
The CEO's pay reduction comes as the storage and organization retailer saw a 21.1% decline in sales in July, with online sales dropping by 15.8%, according to the Morning News, which was the first outlet to report Malhotra's pay decrease. The Container Store is headquartered in Coppell, a suburb of Dallas.
The news comes after recent layoffs for the company. In May, the retailer cut support center jobs by 15% and reduced in-store roles by less than 3% at its 97 locations across the country, per the New York Post.
Malhotra isn't the first CEO to take a pay cut due to the pandemic and ongoing economic challenges. Apple CEO Tim Cook reduced his pay by 40% in 2023, while Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon cut his pay by 30% in 2022, according to Business Insider.
Additionally, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan reduced his salary by 98% following a round of layoffs at the company in February. "I want to show accountability not just in words but in my own actions," Yuan said of his pay cut at the time.
