LendingTree Inc. CEO Doug Lebda saw a 97% drop in compensation for 2021, according to a proxy statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lebda's 2021 compensation totaled $1.37 million, as compared to the prior year's $52 million. This latest package includes a $750,000 base salary, $609,393 in stock awards and $10,420 in all other compensation. Some awards will vest over time. As with 2020, there were no non-equity incentives.
This is the lowest pay Lebda has received at least since 2008, when he transitioned back into the lead role at the former Tree.com, which rebranded to LendingTree in 2015.
The CEO's annual compensation is 13 times that of LendingTree's median employee, according to the filing.
The big drop in Lebda's compensation stems from option awards, which allow executives to buy stocks at preset prices. In 2020, he was awarded $50.3 million in this category, compared to $7.5 million in 2019. Lebda had been Charlotte's highest-paid CEO at a public company.
Shares for LendingTree, an online lending marketplace, have hit their lowest prices since 2016. They have dipped roughly 40% since the pandemic-related market shock in early 2020 and about 80% since its peak in mid-2019. The company's stocks were trading at $82.37 per share as of 1:30 p.m. today.
Covid-19 has created challenges for LendingTree's performance, wiping out a significant amount of its consumer business. That has since started to recover, but LendingTree's insurance sector is also struggling, driven in part by reduced marketing budgets among carriers. Its foray into Medicare also came up short of what leaders had expected.
Earlier this year, LendingTree rolled out a new post-pandemic strategy around growth and personalized digital services. A year ago, it shook up its executive team and reorganized the business structure — a move Lebda said would help the firm better focus its resources.
"We have a lot on our plate but are attacking all of these new opportunities every day with energy and enthusiasm, and the main takeaway I want to leave you with today is that our business has tremendous growth potential," Lebda told listeners at the virtual Investor Day in February.
Here's how LendingTree's other top executives fared:
- Trent Ziegler, chief financial officer (since May 2021): $1,209,888
- J.D. Moriarty, former CFO, now president of LendingTree Next: $3,385,374
- Jill Olmstead, chief human resources officer: $2,065,817
- Scott Peyree, president of LendingTree Insurance: $3,687,177
- Neil Salvage, president of LendingTree Marketplace, now retired: $1,871,927
