February 27, 2006
Business Week: Riding a housing and home-improvement boom, Home Depot sales have soared, from $46 billion in 2000, the year chief executive Bob Nardelli took over, to $81.5 billion in 2005, an average annual growth rate of 12 percent, according to results announced on Feb. 21. By squeezing more out of each orange box through centralized purchasing and a $1.1 billion investment in technology, such as self-checkout aisles and in-store Web kiosks, profits have more than doubled in Nardelli's tenure to $5.8 billion.