Embattled Home Depot CEO resigns

ATLANTA, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Home Depot Inc. Chairman Bob Nardelli has left the U.S. home-improvement retailer, taking a $210 million severance package with him, the company said.

He was succeeded Wednesday by board Vice Chairman Frank Blake.

Nardelli and the board had been heavily criticized by investors for Nardelli's $245 million compensation package coupled with Home Depot's languishing stock price since he joined the company, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Home Depot, the No. 2 U.S. retailer after Wal-Mart, said in a statement Nardelli and the company's board "mutually agreed" he would leave his position.

Home Depot stock closed up 91 cents, or 2.27 percent, at $41.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Nardelli, who recently said he had no plans to leave despite the investor uproar, took the Home Depot job after being passed over to take over General Electric Co. after Chairman and Chief Executive Jack Welch retired.

The Home Depot statement did not say what Nardelli's plans were, other than that he agreed not to compete with Home Depot for a year, not to solicit Home Depot employees or customers for four years and other restrictive covenants.

Blake held a variety of executive positions at General Electric and served as deputy U.S. Energy Secretary before joining the Home Depot board in 2002.