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.
Why fun for you? you're getting creamed.
Wow...you truly ARE delusional...LOL
Wow...you truly ARE delusional...LOL
Lay off the coke, you're hitting the replies too fast.
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.
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.:)
What?
Gentlemen, can't we all just get along?
Will someone please explain that one to him...lol
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!
It's really not funny, you're like in some manic phase.
Wow, it looks like we just found a SECOND topic you can relate to!!...lol
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?
........It ain't as if this guy were a Bill Gates type who was instrumental in creating the company..........
BINGO!!!
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.
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?Oh, we're on the same page on this issue. Poetic? That's for you to decide. :-)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.
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!
jenny, good post. Same page here too!!
Yep...
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.
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