Toys R US CEO Pocketed $2.8M Bonus

WAYNE, NJ — Toys R Us CEO David Brandon and at least four other company executives shared $8.2 million in bonuses despite 31,000 employees not receiving any type of severance pay as the company winds down operations at its U.S. stores, the company confirmed Friday.

Brandon received $2.8 million of the $8.2 million as a retention payment a week before Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sept. 19, spokeswoman Amy Von Walter confirmed.

Von Walter said such payments are "standard practice in these types of scenarios as they help ensure stability and continuity, particularly at the senior most leadership levels during a critical time period for the company."

A federal bankruptcy judge ruled late last year that Toys R Us may pay 17 executives about $14 million in incentive bonuses if it hits a certain earnings amount. Attorneys representing the company argued that the bonuses would help executives focus on increasing sales during the past holiday season.

Brandon is among the 1,159 employees at Toys R Us' Wayne headquarters who will lose their jobs Monday. The layoffs come nearly two months after Toys R Us announced it was "winding down" operations and liquidating inventory at its 735 U.S. stores.

Another 300 employees will remain on at the headquarters to assist with the wind down, Von Walter said. They will leave the company on a rolling basis.

Some local Babies R Us stores have already closed down. Liquidation sales of up to 40 percent off continue at Toys R Us stores across the country as part of the "winding down."

The remaining stores open will likely close on a rolling basis as their inventory sells through, Von Walter said.

Toys R Us employees started a petition stating they need severance pay. Nearly 9,500 people have signed it. The petition is critical of the bonuses Brandon and the other executives have received.

Toys R Us' private equity owners KKR & Co., Bain Capital, and Vornado Realty Trust will also receive hundreds of millions with this liquidation, according to We Are Retail, a nationwide organization of retail workers.

"This corporate greed is hurting me and my family. And it's unacceptable," said the petition's creator Mikey Fox. "We're losing our jobs and our livelihoods while these executives gave themselves huge payoffs."

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Photo: Chairman and CEO of Toys R Us David Brandon speaks onstage at the fourth annual Save the Children Illumination Gala at The Plaza hotel on Oct. 25, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Save The Children)