Departing Sears CEO retains pay

The ousted president and chief executive of Sears Holdings Corp. will continue to receive his $1 million annual salary until March 2010.

According to a regulatory filing this week, the ailing retailer also will give Aylwin B. Lewis accelerated vesting of restricted shares and stock options.

The 52-year-old is stepping down from the helm of the suburban Chicago company as well as its board of directors on Saturday. He'll continue to receive health benefits.

Earlier this week, Sears announced Lewis would leave at the end of the company's fiscal year amid continued sales and profit slumps.

He'll be replaced by W. Bruce Johnson, an executive vice president of supply chain and operations, until a permanent replacement can be found.

As interim CEO, the 56-year-old Johnson will receive a base salary of $900,000 a year and has the chance to double that through the company's incentive plan.

Johnson will also receive annual incentives of as much as 100 percent of his base salary and a $1 million restricted stock award, Sears said in the regulatory filing. His current base salary is $732,660, according to Bloomberg data.

Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings operates about 3,800 Sears and Kmart stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Sears said this month fourth-quarter profit may fall more than 50 percent after U.S. holiday sales shrank at its namesake and Kmart retail chains. Sales at stores open at least a year have declined every quarter since the Sears-Kmart merger as the biggest U.S. department-store chain loses customers to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., J.C. Penney Co. and Home Depot Inc.

In a restructuring move, Sears announced last week its businesses would split into five categories: operations of its home appliances, apparel and other lines; support services; development of its brands such as Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances; real estate; and online sales growth.