Meet the pest-control boss with the $140,000 dining perk

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We’ve been somewhat remiss in our pursuit of proxy nuggets this year, due in part to a visit to the concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

Thankfully, the US corporate transparency juggernaut has ploughed on, providing ample examples of intriguing deployment of company capital.

Take for instance Rollins, the Atlanta, USA-based pest control company (no relation to ATL throwback Rollin’). Operating in more than 70 countries, the company provides mosquito control, rodent exclusion, termite eradication, bird work and more through a network of subsidiaries and franchises.

Its chairman, Gary W. Rollins — son of co-founder Orville Rollins — has been a director at Rollins since 1981, and has spent 56 years in various roles at the company.

Gary gives back. A company bio notes his long-standing support of United Way of Greater Atlanta, a charity that supports disadvantaged children, and Rollins boasts of “over $21mn through employee donations and company matches”.

It is reasonable, however, to note that he has a lot to give. According to Forbes, Gary is the 432nd richest person in the world, with a net worth of $6.4bn. Rollins paid him $6.5mn last year (admittedly, a step down from $7.7mn in 2022, and $8.3mn in 2021).

So why are shareholders paying so much for his meals?

Rollins’ latest proxy statement lists Gary as having incurred $141,902 in perquisites related to “Use of Executive Dining Room” during 2023 — equivalent to slightly more than the total salary of a cabinet member of the UK government.

Now, FT Alphaville has been diligent in its past coverage of executive food consumption, but this is on another level, working out at $567 per day. Even assuming Gary isn’t eating alone, AND is eating several meals there per day, that seems a remarkably high spend.

He’s also the only Rollins executive who gets “personal” use of the executive dining room as a perk — creating quite a stark-looking table:

What’s going on here? Does he eat alone? Do the executives all eat together, and then have a good laugh when Gary says he (meaning the shareholders) will pick up the bill? Does everyone else sit around eating their Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar soup from the Lindbergh Plaza Targét while Gary tucks into a high-end meal and a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2019? Is Gary just a really good tipper?

Whatever the reason, it’s not a new phenomenon. Gary notched up $124,839 in executive dining room spending in 2022, and $111,802 in 2021. Prior to that, the figures were rolled up in a larger lump sum that included use of planes, cars and storage.

We asked Rollins’ head of press why (and, implicitly, how) Gary was notching up such a big dining spend, and why shareholders were paying, but hadn’t heard back at time of pixel.

In the meantime, if you have access to the menu for the Rollins executive dining room, FTAV can be reached at the usual address.

Further reading
— The Proxies 2023: Where are they now?