Posted on 09/26/2008 2:31:32 PM PDT by kms61
Washington Mutual Inc.'s new CEO, Alan Fishman, will be eligible for at least $12.65 million or more in salary and bonuses next year, the company said Thursday in a securities filing.
Fishman, who replaced Kerry Killinger as CEO on Monday, also received a $7.5 million signing bonus for joining the company, according to a regulatory filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Under his employment agreement, Fishman will receive a base salary of $1 million, a target bonus of up to $3.65 million and a long-term incentive award starting in 2009 of at least $8 million.
In addition, he is eligible for stock awards that include 612,000 restricted shares, which will vest over three years. He could also receive options to buy 5 million additional shares, with some of the shares vesting over time and some vesting linked to the shares' performance.
Under his employment agreement, Fishman, 62, could also be eligible for
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
I agree with you that the severances should be performance based but... you know, companies are free to do what they want (except conceal when their management is selling stock and conceal their CEOs pay packages, so you can get out of companies where you disagree with the management).
I admit I didn’t understand the particulars of this case. It appears he was hired to save the company, and they were hoping he could turn it around. Given the situation, that would have been a miracle. I don’t doubt a CEO can turn a company around, and I don’t begrudge them high wages if they can lead their companies to success.
What I was ranting about earlier was really more general in nature. How can CEOs who are responsible for destroying their companies walk away with their severance packages intact? I’m not talking about ones who are fired when the company is still solvent, as they would still have a contract. But what about those who drive their companies into bankruptcy?
Nearly all CEO compensation packages are based on the success of the firm's stock price. Sometimes that coincides with cost-savings layoffs (would be great if the Fed had one of these), sometimes it involves selling the company to a larger firm, sometimes it involves just plain old fashioned job-producing growth.
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