Former eBay executive Hal Lawton was named CEO of Tractor Supply Company, effective January 13, 2020. The company describes itself as “the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the United States.”
Lawton had been Senior Vice President of eBay North America from August 2015 to September 2017, when he left to serve as President of Macy’s.
Prior to eBay, he had spent 10 years in various leadership roles at the Home Depot – his title when leaving was Senior Vice President for merchandising. Lawton was credited with starting the Home Depot’s Internet business and building it to nearly $2 billion in sales.
In a press release announcing the appointment on Thursday, Tractor Supply provided information about Lawton’s background and described his role at eBay as follows:
“Lawton oversaw all aspects of eBay’s Americas business unit, including marketing, merchandising, operations, business selling, consumer selling and advertising, as well as global responsibility for shipping, payments, risk and trust.”
Tractor Supply’s Chairman of the Board Cynthia Jamison said in today’s announcement, “Hal is a proven leader with a unique omnichannel experience to deliver on our customer’s evolving expectations as we look to the future of retail. With a strong track record of results across different companies, responsibilities and cultures, Hal has a broad base of experience in retail with a proven ability to drive innovative growth strategies.”
People are responding to the news on Twitter – one person wrote, “I think the future of TSC is much brighter than Macy’s… “
The move from eBay to Macy’s was lucrative for Lawton, as we noted in this August 21st news story. (Editing to clarify: August 21, 2017.)
He received a base salary of $650,000 at eBay in 2016 with a target value of equity awards of $3.5 million, and entered Macy’s with an annual base salary of $1 million along with annual target incentive opportunity of 125% of base salary; and a fiscal year 2018 target annual equity grant with a grant date fair value of $4 million upon vesting.
He also received a sign-on bonus of $5.5 million, and millions of dollars in sign-on equity grants intended to replace awards forfeited upon departure from eBay.
His compensation package for Tractor Supply has not yet been published to the SEC.gov website.
Whoopdy friggin’ doo.
The beat goes on…..
With the stench of the cesspool called fleeebay on him, he will be a failure.
Looking at his former titles, looks like he can not hold a job.
These executives are like moving targets aren’t they. I recently HAD to go into a Macy’s and what a mess that store is. Compare it to Nordstrom, which has wide aisles, clean, merchandise nicely displayed, you can find your way around. Macy’s was like going through a maze; or one of those antique malls with separate seller booths.