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EXXON CHAIRMAN GETS $400 MILLION RETIREMENT PACKAGE AMID SOARING GAS PRICES
ABC News via Drudge ^

Posted on 04/14/2006 1:20:10 PM PDT by aShepard

April 14, 2006— Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn't complaining.

Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

Last November, when he was still chairman of Exxon, Raymond told Congress that gas prices were high because of global supply and demand.

"We're all in this together, everywhere in the world," he testified.

Raymond, however, was confronted with caustic complaints about his compensation.

"In 2004, Mr. Raymond, your bonus was over $3.6 million," Sen. Barbara Boxer said.

That was before new corporate documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed Raymond's retirement deal and his $51.1 million paycheck in 2005. That's equivalent to $141,000 a day, nearly $6,000 an hour. It's almost more than five times what the CEO of Chevron made.

"I think it will spark a lot of outrage," said Sarah Anderson, a fellow in the global economy program at the Institute for Policy Studies, an independent think tank. "Clearly much of his high-level pay is due to the high price of gas."

Exxon defends Raymond's compensation, pointing out that during the 12 years he ran the company, Exxon became the largest oil company in the world and that the stock price went up 500 percent.

A company spokesman said the compensation package reflected "a very long and distinguished career."

Some Exxon shareholders are now trying to pass resolutions criticizing the company's executive pay policies. The company is urging other shareholders to vote against those resolutions.


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: badtiming; bigoil; conservativenameonly; deserveseverypenny; energy; exxon; exxonmobile; gasprices; goldenparachute; hero; oil; overpaid; raymond; retirement
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To: stockstrader

Why fun for you? you're getting creamed.


341 posted on 04/14/2006 3:57:17 PM PDT by ConTex
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To: ConTex

Wow...you truly ARE delusional...LOL


342 posted on 04/14/2006 3:57:47 PM PDT by stockstrader
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To: ConTex

Wow...you truly ARE delusional...LOL


343 posted on 04/14/2006 3:57:47 PM PDT by stockstrader
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To: stockstrader

Lay off the coke, you're hitting the replies too fast.


344 posted on 04/14/2006 3:58:57 PM PDT by ConTex
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To: stockstrader
risk/reward

people who don't take risks don't understand risk. or perhaps I should rephrase: people who don't consciously take risks do not understand risk (or reward); and many who do don't understand it.

345 posted on 04/14/2006 3:59:16 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Jesus' mission declared "complete failure" by religious experts.)
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To: ConTex

Well, unlike you, I can think AND type at the same time. Thanks for the advice, though, it sounds like we FINALLY found something you know something about!!...Have a nice day.:)


346 posted on 04/14/2006 3:59:51 PM PDT by stockstrader
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To: stockstrader

What?


347 posted on 04/14/2006 4:00:19 PM PDT by ConTex
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To: ConTex
Lay off the coke, you're hitting the replies too fast.

Gentlemen, can't we all just get along?

348 posted on 04/14/2006 4:00:34 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Jesus' mission declared "complete failure" by religious experts.)
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To: ConTex

Will someone please explain that one to him...lol


349 posted on 04/14/2006 4:00:43 PM PDT by stockstrader
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To: Lessismore

Lessismore,

Absolutely correct, Exxon is a total global corporation, and I'm sure that their tax accountants are fuly aware of the situation.

If I may, I'd like to repost data that I should have included in my original post. Thanks for your accomodation!



So, Exxon is a "great company" under Raymond leadership???

Last year the company made $36 billion after tax.

??What did they do with that cash????

They spent $13 billion in property plant and equipment, about the same as in recent history. (their P&L notes they spent $964 million, down ($150 million), in exploration and the write off of dry holes

They spent $18 billion to buy back their own stock, which was trading at the highest prices in their history.

Why?? Because they couldn't find any better investment in the oil industry than retiring stock that was paying a 2.1% dividend. But, they could have invested the cash in Treasury investments that are yielding 4.5%! - for a rainy day

Why? Who knows, but the effect of buying back stock boosts the price of the shares, and Raymond was probably one of the biggest recipients of the higher stock price, in this, his retirement year.

??Why couldn't they have made a major investment in alternative energy sources, for the long term benefit of the company, if they weren't willing to invest to find a developable petro deposit??

Strong management - I think not!
A Company with vision - I think not!
A company that rewards current shareholders at their long term detriment - I think so!
A Company that rewards their retiring Chairman and President - BINGO!



350 posted on 04/14/2006 4:00:56 PM PDT by aShepard
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To: stockstrader

It's really not funny, you're like in some manic phase.


351 posted on 04/14/2006 4:02:36 PM PDT by ConTex
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To: ConTex

Wow, it looks like we just found a SECOND topic you can relate to!!...lol


352 posted on 04/14/2006 4:03:12 PM PDT by stockstrader
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To: the invisib1e hand

I think it would be fairer to give shareholders (including himself) higher dividends over time for taking the risk of providing the equity capital in the first place. How much does a senior executive need to retire on? He was highly compensated to begin with, now he's taking no more risks or making risky decisions (other than maybe continuing to own so much stock). Sorry, no executive in my book, and I've met plenty of them, are worth this. If he owned the company himself (privately held) that's another story. As a small shareholder, I personally find the obscene compensation level of these guys insulting. Especially when they're holding down (controlling costs) of all the lower level employees and paying themselves a king's ransom. The board of directors should be ashamed as well, oh, I forgot, theyre all in the same country clubs. There's something not right about this, in particular, as more American jobs continue to be shipped overseas. It's smacks of "I got mine, so F*$# Y@!". Not the kind of thinking or actions that are beneficial to the American economy, or people, in the long run, don't you think?


353 posted on 04/14/2006 4:03:22 PM PDT by john drake (roman military maxim: "oderint dum metuant, i.e., let them hate, as long as they fear")
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To: Radix

........It ain't as if this guy were a Bill Gates type who was instrumental in creating the company..........

BINGO!!!


354 posted on 04/14/2006 4:03:27 PM PDT by aShepard
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To: Naptowne
The oil companies or more of a drain on the American economy than an asset because they drive up the costs for almost every other business in the country.

Definitely. Let's nationalize them, and make their executives switch to a job where they do an honest day's work on an oil rig or something for the first time in their lives. And if they refuse they can give back all their bonuses since 2000, when they first started gouging American consumers.

355 posted on 04/14/2006 4:03:49 PM PDT by Young Scholar (if it isn't obvious, I'm being sarcastic)
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To: the invisib1e hand
I wonder if Raymond will break down in abject apology and beg the world for forgiveness like GE's Jack Welch, or stand firm and proudly declare he was worth his severance package like NYSE's Dick Grasso?

I can discern no clear message from this clever post. Are you demonizing Welch along with the popularly demonized Grasso? Or being poetic? For starters, Grasso's compensation is no one's business but his and the NYSE's -- it was privately held at the time.

Oh, we're on the same page on this issue. Poetic? That's for you to decide. :-)
356 posted on 04/14/2006 4:04:09 PM PDT by jennyp (WHAT I'M READING NOW: your mind)
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To: stockstrader

I don't relate, but I do recognize. Little bit too out there.. Oh, go plead the case for more billionares while you're at it. Post faster!


357 posted on 04/14/2006 4:04:47 PM PDT by ConTex
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To: jennyp

jenny, good post. Same page here too!!


358 posted on 04/14/2006 4:05:08 PM PDT by stockstrader
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To: IronJack

Yep...


359 posted on 04/14/2006 4:05:22 PM PDT by dakine
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To: Young Scholar

Funny, around 2000 is when they all consolidated so bad. (clinton timeframe). Look at the companies then and now. You'll see a lot of the increase in prices right there.


360 posted on 04/14/2006 4:06:01 PM PDT by ConTex
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