The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition hedge-fund manager Edward Lampert has agreed to remain Sears Holdings Corp.'s chief executive officer with a $1 annual salary after taking over last month amid slumping sales (all figures U.S.). A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says Mr. Lampert's new contract was effective Feb. 1. During the first three years of his tenure, he will participate in the company's incentive plan with a target payout of $2-million a year. Mr. Lampert, 50, will also get $4.5-million a year in Sears stock. He took over in February after Lou D'Ambrosio stepped down for a family health matter after less than two years, as the department-store chain works to snap a streak of quarterly sales declines stretching back to May, 2007. Mr. Lampert is the company's fifth CEO since he merged Sears and Kmart in March, 2005. The retailer has been selling outlets and assets and last year completed the spinoff of its smaller-format Hometown and other stores in a move that raised $346.5-million from a rights offering and a $100-million cash dividend from Sears Hometown. For the current full year, analysts estimate the company will report a loss of $313-million and sales will fall 7.4 per cent.