The news isn't bright and cheery for the top executives of the second-largest bookselling chain in the US, who didn't get any bonuses in 2005 because, the Detroit Free Press reports, they didn't perform well enough to meet criteria for extra payouts. Spokeswoman Anne Roman said that while fourth-quarter results were good (with earnings up 10% and sales up 6%), the company was slowed in the prior three quarters by intense expansion and store remodeling plans. "We just fell short of what our targets were for the bonus."

The company added that the compensation plan "reflected the bookseller's philosophy to pay executives below market averages if performance is lacking and pay them at or above the market average when the company does well." It's a trend that appears to be growing for many corporations, as data on the executive compensation practices of Fortune 500 companies found that 7% of them did not give their chief executives bonuses in 2004.