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.
Curious how the Freeper Socialists never object to the $.50 cent in taxes the Govt takes out of each gallon compared to the $.10 the Oil Companies make. But that right, the pay masters at the DNC don't pay the Virtual Campaigners to tell the truth.
"I'm hoping O'Reilly and Congress makes him sweat a lot to earn a portion of it."
What a stupid thing to say. He's earned his money working for Exxon/Mobil, not Congress, not Bill O'Reilly.
If you aren't a stock holder, it is like being Canadian and hating George W. Bush.LOL! Well said!
I don't want to even hear the whiners who think this is excessive...
The United States consumes roughly 9 million barrels of gasoline a day...a barrel of gasoline equals 42 gallons...average tax on a gallon of gas equals 42 cents...
9M x 42Gal x .42 x 365 = $57,947,400,000 in State and Federal Taxes Annually!!!!
You read that correctly...58 Billion in taxes on fuel alone....
Don't forget we have a right to cheap gas.. Even though it is not in the Constitution... /s
"You tell me why it was done."
Maybe because it saved Exxon/Mobil some MONEY??? Are you aware that many companies do it for the same reason? Do you understand economics?
Oh, another assumption:
12 gallon gas tanks -> Consumer cost for the bonus: 6 cents per gallon over the course of the year
So should the chance to be fleeced by oligarcy oil and opec!
Guess what? America is a capitalist nation, the goal is to make money. If his company had lost money and it's stock had gone down during his tenure he would have been fired.
And OPEC only controls the SUPPLY of oil, they do not set the PRICE. And as Raymond and others have pointed out, if we opened ANWR and other places in the US, got rid of "boutique" fuel standards, and allowed more refineries to be built, the price of oil would drop dramatically.
Dear cweese,
"What types of jobs did he move out of the US for the 'hell of it'?"
I don't know if it was "for the hell of it," but during this time, ExxonMobil did outsource a lot of its information technology work, and off-shored it out of the United States. During the depths of the IT depression in the early '00s, I interviewed a fellow or two who had been dumped unceremoniously as a result of that move.
sitetest
$400M! Was he a union member, or just a plain run of the mill crook?
"WMT took the title away from GM (IIRC) several years ago."
Yup, and GM took the title away from Exxon several years before that.
I know that it did not save much, if any money.
I still must assume you work in the Exxonmobil HQ in Irving. Asking you what's going on in Exxon is like asking an islamic what's going on in the mosque.
How are those guatamalan accoutants working out?
It is in the Constitution. Life Liberty and the pursuit of cheap gas. Oh happiness.
Make sure Eliot Spitzer doesn't hear about this.
sitetest, I understand. The 'for the hell of it' comment was from ConTex, not me. I know several folks dumped in similar fashion from the energy business at that time.
All that looks like Lebron's next contract to stay with Cleveland.
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