The co-CEOs of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) paid a terrible price financially for a year in which its shares were punished after tainted food was discovered at a number of its restaurants.
Steve Ells and Monty Moran suffered compensation cuts from $29 million in 2014 to $1.39 million in 2015. Ells founded Chipotle Mexican Grill in 1993 and has become fabulously rich as its stock posted an extraordinary increase for years. Each man owns between 1% and 2% of Chipotle Mexican Grill, and their holdings have lost a great deal of their value.
After a run that began in 2011 and ended in mid-2015, Chipotle Mexican Grill shares rose 200%. In the past year, they are down 24%.
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Recent results show the extent to which the food poisoning hit the company:
Highlights for the fourth quarter of 2015 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2014 include:
- Revenue decreased 6.8% to $997.5 million
- Comparable restaurant sales decreased 14.6%
- Restaurant level operating margin was 19.6%, a decrease of 700 basis points
- Net income was $67.9 million, a decrease of 44.0%
- Diluted earnings per share was $2.17, a decrease of 43.5%
- Opened 79 new restaurants