Dick’s Board Gave Self Huge Awards at Covid Discount, Suit Says

A Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. shareholder sued its directors in Delaware, claiming they gave themselves equity awards worth tens of millions—at prices depressed by the Covid-19 pandemic—while making a show of forgoing salaries to share in the sacrifice of the retail chain’s furloughed workers.

While “Dick’s garnered praise” for deferring executive salaries during “the first wave of business lockdowns,” its board members gave themselves huge stock grants that “dwarfed” the “temporary pain” of reduced cash compensation,” which “constitutes a minor portion” of their pay, the lawsuit says.

The largest of the awards, worth $10 million at the time, went to...