Chrysler leaders get millions

[Truth Teller]

Source: Detroit Free Press

As Detroit's crumbling auto industry asks Congress for a bailout, Chrysler is in the awkward position of paying about $30 million in retention bonuses to keep top executives while the company cuts thousands of jobs.

Chrysler owes the bonuses under its contracts with about 50 executives, based on a retention incentive plan crafted early last year by former German parent DaimlerChrysler, when it was preparing to sell the Chrysler unit.

Nancy Rae, Chrysler executive vice president for human resources and communications, said the move made sense at the time to ensure potential buyers that key Chrysler executives would remain in place after a sale. She acknowledged that the bonuses could be seen as controversial now...





Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20081113/BUSINESS01/311130002

[phantom power]

1. Where are the boards of directors? I'd love to get them on camera...

where they can explain to the public why they approve of giant bonuses to executives in charge of bankrupt companies.

[WriteDown]

2. In Germany. nt.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Let the Deutsche Bank bail them out then n/t

[WriteDown]

14. Not a bad idea...nt

[ben_meyers]

5. Mercedes sold their stake to Cerberus Capital Management

which is run by Dan Quayle.

[WriteDown]

12. Dan Quayle does not run Cerberus.

He is chairman of their international unit though.

[ben_meyers]

22. Close enough for government work.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

34. Everything Ceberus touches these days turns to shit.

They are the controlling interest in GMAC as well.

[WriteDown]

42. Haha.....

I would blame Fannie Mae more for the fate of GMAC then Cerberus. Probably the only reason that GMAC is still in business is due to the capital injections from Cerberus.

[Ikonoklast]

6. Privately held by Cerberus Capital.

No one to report to except themselves.

[WriteDown]

8. Not when the contracts were made....

as stated by the article.

[Ikonoklast]

17. Cerberus assumed executive compensation and union contracts

along with all pension liablities when they purchased Chrysler from Daimler.

They are still on the hook for those payments.

[WriteDown]

19. Agreed....

so they or at least their subsidiary is legally bound to pay them.

[phantom power]

9. No kidding. They can do that and still trade equity publicly?

[hatrack]

15. They don't trade publicly - they went private about a year ago . . .

nt

[phantom power]

18. I need to get out more.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

30. Cerberus Capital is a front for Israeli investors...

... you have to do some googling, but the words "Cerberus Capital" and "Israel" and "banks" keep on popping up. Here is one example:
<http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-31332260_ITM> . :yoiks:

[WriteDown]

41. Yep....

Its Dan Quayle and the Zionists trying to achieve world domination :eyes:.

[ohio2007]

37. Your congressman is on the board of directors.

"I did not come to Washington to sit on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs."

D.Kucinich
prior to the $700 bilion corporate welfare scam vote.


Now he gets to use the executive bathroom with the gold key they gave congress as a thank you gift

[AndyA]

4. What bullshit.

Who they hell would want to keep top executives in their positions if those execs are driving the company into the ground?

Retention bonuses? Bullshit! If an executive can't run a company in a profitable manner, they don't deserve ANYTHING. And if they're that good, they shouldn't be worried about making a deal like that, either.

[Lucky Luciano]

7. Kind of a Catch-22

1) If you fire them all then there would be total chaos - TOTAL.

2) If you do not pay them their bonuses - the only reason they remain, then they all leave. See (1).

[Truth Teller]

13. But

Who else would want them?

Some of them leaving may have been a good thing.

[Lucky Luciano]

16. If you can all of them, then a new group coming in would have

to learn the ins and outs of the company and allllll of the nuances of the operational aspects of running the business. A mess. Imagine going to the local mall with 50 stores or so. Fire all the employees. Hire new ones in a week and tell them to run everything. It would be chaotic....now bring that to the scale of a very large auto company on the brink...not pretty.

[TankLV]

29. It would be hard - but it could be done.

There are many times I had to jump into a project knowing absolutely NOTHING about the project before hand, and within a short time, I was successfully turning a disaster around to a winning result.

We never said it would be easy - let them stay long enough to tell the newbies the passcodes, where the restrooms are, and where the files are kept.

Everything else will work itself out eventually.

[Lucky Luciano]

35. Hope you are right...I am a lot less optimistic.

[Metta]

10. "key executives in place?" They're the ones responsible and should be let go.

Along with the entire board.

[kiranon]

31. If they get their bonuses do the executives promise to leave?

Who needs to retain these executives? They ran the company into the ground.

[jimmil]

11. It is the corporate culture

Of GM, Ford, and Chrysler that fosters up and coming executives to be more lap dogs than innovators. If they truly promoted those whose ideas were innovative and set market trends then they all would be competing hard with Japanese auto makers. In fact, Japan would have never made it in the American market if GM et. al. built cars that were reliable and what consumers wanted. Instead they continue to think that they know better what the consumer wants than the consumers themselves.

[LatteLibertine]

20. I am sick of sheeple

making all their decisions grounded in the politics of fear. How many times do people need to be manipulated by "the sky will fall nonsense" before they learn?

[scarface2004]

21. they should double it to $60 million!!!

bunch of assholes!!

[Auggie]

23. It's like a bad dream. Only it's really happening.

[customerserviceguy]

24. This is probably what's going to happen

with a sizable chunk of the bailout money that's headed towards Ford and GM, as well. It's funny how badly a muckety-muck can screw the pooch and still be thought of as 'indispensable'.

[9119495]

25. Why do we have to save ALL 3?

Seriously, Chrysler has been a dog for years. It almost merged with GM...who was going to rule that partnership? I think Ford employs more and sells more than Chrysler. Why not, IF we must do this, at least consider bailing out the big two instead of three?

Ford and GM can then slug it out against each other in the marketplace.

[ixion]

26. It must be nice to be able to be a total f'*k up and get millions for doing so

:argh: :grr: :eyes:

[KakistocracyHater]

27. Again-get rid of CEO & CFO totally

let the board of directors steer the corps. the CEO doesn't help anyway he's a leach, heck of a job guys.

[Blue State Bandit]

28. Execs have 2 choices, quit, or lose jobs.

If they don't like loosing their bonuses, they can quit!

If they stay and fight for their bonusus, the company will fold, and they will loose their jobs.

Maybe they should be Americans and accept smaller bonuses.

[Alamuti Lotus]

32. the pigs should be BBQ'd, not fed...

Not just these, this is the rule not an exception.

[ohio2007]

38. reward failure, tax success

and the people can pay the difference at the gas pump when congress says it's time to do your patriotic duty now that oil falls into the $50 bbl range..

[DU GrovelBot]

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[ohio2007]

36. Corporate welfare is thriving with this congress. Who else needs $

much more to follow as the rich get richer

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

39. What???!!!

Retention bonuses for top talent. What yardstick are they using to make this measurement? If they be such geniuses, they wouldn't need a bailout! Good grief.

[flvegan]

40. Any bailout should nuke any concract that provides a bonus based

on anything but PFP (Pay For Performance). You want to make a few million extra? Fine, make this company profitable by $100 million and we'll talk. If the company loses money, you're at your base, which I'd hack down to something reasonable.

Actually, I'd probably fire the top 10% of the execs, but I could be reasonable.

[ohio2007]

43. congress already gave them the blank check. Only thing left is for congressmen to flip flop on why

they were against the bailout before they voted for it :crazy:

[sarcasmo]

44. This has been a Corporate problem for years. 30million for 50 executives.

I am sure that 30 million could have been spent a whole lot smarter.

[JJ]

45. Screw retention. Where they going to go?

To all the other bankrupt automakers looking for new incompetents?