FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Woodbridge Equity FundLLLP and Levitt Corporation (NYSE: LEV), together 'Woodbridge,' today mailed aletter to the shareholders of Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP). Woodbridge'sletter details for shareholders its concerns regarding the leadership of SteveOdland, including his overall performance, excessive compensation and othercorporate governance issues. Woodbridge urges Office Depot shareholders toelect its two highly-qualified nominees, Mark Begelman and Martin E. Hanaka,to the Office Depot board of directors. Shareholders can vote their GOLDproxy card FOR Woodbridge's nominees by Internet, telephone or mail today.
'Steve Odland is being paid an exorbitant amount despite his failure toperform and the fact that serious governance questions have arisen under hisleadership,' said Alan B. Levan, President of Woodbridge Capital Corporation,the General Partner of Woodbridge Equity Fund LLLP. 'As Office Depot's stockprice and market share steadily declines and SEC investigations are launched,Mr. Odland's compensation has soared. We believe that this is unacceptableand that our highly-qualified nominees are the right people to ensure thatshareholders don't continue to see their hard-earned investments decline invalue while senior management profits.'
For additional information regarding Woodbridge's nominees, go towww.RebuildOfficeDepot.com.
The full text of Woodbridge's letter appears below:
PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT, VOTE FOR WOODBRIDGE'S DIRECTOR NOMINEES
SIGN, DATE AND RETURN THE ENCLOSED GOLD PROXY CARD TODAY
Dear Fellow Shareholder:
April 23rd is fast approaching, and we urge you to send the management ofOffice Depot a strong message by voting for Woodbridge nominees Mark Begelmanand Martin E. Hanaka. If elected, our nominees will not only provide thenecessary expertise and leadership to finally turn around Office Depot, butwill also work to ensure that the Company's senior management are notcontinually rewarded for their mismanagement.
CHANGE IS NEEDED NOW AT OFFICE DEPOT: DECLINING EARNINGS, MARKET SHARE ANDFREE CASH FLOW SHOULD NOT BE REWARDED WITH EGREGIOUS COMPENSATION
STEVE ODLAND: NAMED ONE OF THE WORST CEOS TO WATCH IN 2008 BY THE WALLSTREET JOURNAL'S MARKETWATCH COLUMNIST HERB GREENBERG, YET HIS PAY ROSE TO$17.8 MILLION IN 2007(1)
In the past two years, under Steve Odland's stewardship, Office Depot'sshare price has declined 70%. Meanwhile, Mr. Odland's compensation increased85% from 2006 to 2007. How can Mr. Odland, or the board for that matter,justify this? Why should shareholders pay a CEO millions upon millions ofdollars as they watch the value of their investment and the Company's marketcapitalization continue to drop? Since the end of 2006, shareholders havelost $7 billion in value, while Mr. Odland was awarded $17.8 million incompensation in 2007 alone. Apparently this was not enough for Mr. Odland topay his own personal travel expenses. His personal travel on the companyplane cost the Company an additional $311,344 in 2007.(2)
The weakening results at the Company and its floundering stock price havenot gone unnoticed. In an article published on January 5, 2008 in The WallStreet Journal, MarketWatch columnist Herb Greenberg listed Mr. Odland as oneof the 'worst' CEOs to watch in 2008 because of the poor performance of theCompany.(3) The article pointed out that the stock has done a 'complete roundtrip, and then some' since Mr. Odland became CEO, noting that the Company wasbuffeted by multi-quarter restatements and falling earnings while Staplesforecasted double-digit earnings growth. He says Mr. Odland is one of ahandful of CEOs whose job 'should be on thin ice.'
More recently, an interactive multimedia graphic published on April 5,2008 by The New York Times entitled 'Executive Pay: The Bottom Line for Thoseat the Top' identified Mr. Odland as an outlier within the industry.(4) Mr.Odland had this distinction not only because the stock of Office Depot was oneof the worst performers of all consumer companies, but because Mr. Odland hadone of the fattest paychecks of any CEO in the sector, and the greatestincrease in pay when compared to the year earlier, according to The Times'analysis. Odland's increase in pay is ahead of CEOs of such household namesas Walt Disney, News Corp., and Marriott International.
Instead of focusing his time and attention on the pain of the averageinvestor, Mr. Odland would have you pity HIS misfortune. In a Palm Beach Postarticle published on April 7, 2008, Mr. Odland explained his woes.(5)
''All our options are under water and have no value. You can computewhatever you want, but they're worthless,'' Odland said in a recent interview.
''All we got was base salary,' Odland said. 'That's one million dollars,and as my wife reminds me, half of it goes to taxes and the rest of it goes todonations and other things. So I was in the hole.''
The same article includes a rebuke from Paul Hodgson, senior researchassociate for The Corporate Library, an independent research firm in Portland,Maine, that specializes in corporate governance and executive compensation.
'As for the stock options, Odland didn't exercise any last year, but hestill has them. 'Worthless is probably too strong a word,' Hodgson said.
''There are other substantial option grants that were made at the timethat don't have any stipulations on them,' Hodgson said. 'Not enough of it isreally tied to performance. They're kind of behind the times.''
If Mr.
