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John's 2019 compensation, disclosed Friday in a was a 23% increase over the previous year. Build-A-Bear posted a for the fiscal year, which ended Feb. 1, after losing $17.9 million in 2018.

John's $847,518 bonus for 2019 was 119% of the target amount. It normally would have been paid in April, but the company is delaying bonuses until as late as December as it copes with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, Build-A-Bear closed all of its stores and

Build-A-Bear also announced last month that its CEO and other top executives have taken 20% salary cuts. John's salary was $714,000 last year.

In addition, board members won't receive their cash retainers, which were $50,000 apiece with additional amounts for committee chairs. Build-A-Bear is among at least six St. Louis companies that have cut top executives' pay  during the pandemic.

John received stock awards last year valued at $1.07 million, half of which will depend on the company's performance through 2021. A similar award from 2017 paid out just 67% of the target number of shares.

The proxy statement discloses that in April, at the same time her salary was cut 20%, John received 70,000 additional shares, which would be worth about $160,000.

Build-A-Bear's pay practices got only 61% shareholder approval last year, which is far below average. The company said shareholders want it to move toward more stock-based compensation and use additional metrics, besides profitability, in its bonus plan.

Here's what other St. Louis CEOs earned in 2019: