Furniture Brands director quits over pay dispute

Sun Capital Partners waged a fierce proxy fight last year to gain three seats on the board of Furniture Brands International. Now, one of Sun’s directors has resigned, partly because of a dispute over executive pay.
T. Scott King, a Sun managing director, resigned from the Furniture Brands board on Feb. 19, according to an SEC filing. Here’s the reason given:

In submitting his resignation, Mr. King informed the Company that his resignation was primarily due to other business commitments, and in part, due to a difference of opinion regarding the Company’s future executive compensation policies and practices.

It will be interesting to see what pay disclosures Furniture Brands makes in coming weeks. As of last year’s proxy statement, Chief Executive Ralph Scozzafava got an annual salary of $700,000, an annual bonus with a target of 100 percent of salary, and a long-term bonus with a target of 200 percent of salary. He also got stock option grants in 2007 and 2008.