Home Depot, the US home improvement retailer has responded to investor criticism over payouts to its former top executive Robert Nardelli by offering its new chief a much smaller pay package which is mostly linked to performance.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, new chief executive Frank Blake will earn a $975,000 (€752,046) base salary in 2007. He can earn as much as $8.9m by meeting certain management performance targets equal to double his base salary and a longterm incentive award equal to his base salary.