CNNMoney: The Five Highest Paid, Worst Performing CEOs of 2008 - (Median worker wage is $42,270)

[Bozita]

from CNNMoney:

5 most overpaid CEOs
Despite last year's financial tumult, these five CEOs are still sitting pretty. Here is the Corporate Library's list of the "Highest Paid Worst Performers" of 2008.

Michael Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch


The Corporate Library, a corporate governance research firm, reviewed regulatory filings from 2,000 publicly traded companies and came up with a list of five chief executives they're calling the "Highest Paid Worst Performers" of 2008.

To make the list, a CEO had to have total realized income -- including base salary, bonuses and stock -- of at least $30 million last year. At the same time, the share price of the companies they oversaw had to have underperformed rivals and the broad sampling of stocks in the S&P 500 over the last five years.

Abercrombie's Michael Jeffries was awarded total compensation of $71.8 million last year, with a base salary of $1.5 million, according to the Corporate Library.

His compensation package included a $6 million "stay bonus" designed to keep him on board, despite his 17-year tenure, as well as perks such as the use of a corporate jet.

The Corporate Library notes that Jeffries is compensated at "the upper quartile" of his peer group. In other words, the compensation committee that determines his pay assures he'll be paid more than what 75% of his rival CEOs get.

"If you do that, you're almost guaranteed to overpay your CEO," said Paul Hodgson, a senior researcher at the Corporate Library.

An Abercrombie spokeswoman declined to comment.



That's just the first one. See the other four at:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/news/0909/gallery.highest_paid_worst_CEOs/index.html

[redqueen]

1. Damn... $60.3 million over base salary.

Don't know if I even want to see the rest, really.

[gratuitous]

2. Much as I dislike corporate columnist Robert Samuelson

He did hit one out of the park several years ago when discussing CEO compensation. He had a list of questions every board of directors should ask of its CEO, and demand direct answers. I don’t remember all the questions, but a few of them were: “What are we paying you?” That was to include base compensation, performance bonuses, retention bonuses and bonus bonuses. Every dime out of the corporate coffers that made its way into the CEO’s pocket. The next question piggy-backed on the first: “Where else could you get that kind of pay?” They wanted a list of other players in their industry who would similarly compensate their CEO.

Then it went into “What do you do?” What are the CEO’s responsibilities, does he handle all these duties personally or does he have a staff that does the actual work? Following on that was “Who is your successor?” Is the CEO grooming someone to step in when he leaves? Or what would happen if the corporate jet went down in a storm, or if the CEO keeled over from a heart attack (fatal or disabling)? Would there be someone who could assume the reins? If not, why not?

It was a pretty good list of questions. I don’t recall it causing any kind of industry reform, but it was a pretty good column.

[Kolesar]

3. I would like to know what our corporate boards of directors do, besides rubberstamping a CEOs plans

Love your summary of Samuelson, though!

[Bozita]

4. link to Bureau of Labor Statistics figure of $42,270 as median worker wage in May, 2008

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#b00-0000

[quiet.american]

5. "...this formula has resulted in $625 million in 'aggregate bonuses' for Isenberg. "

Isenberg's total compensation was driven mostly by a $58.7 million bonus, which was calculated based on a percentage of the company's cash flow. Over the years, this formula has resulted in $625 million in "aggregate bonuses" for Isenberg.

A Nabors spokesman said Isenberg recently renegotiated his contract and that his bonus formula is now based less on company cash flow.

Over half a billion dollars in compensation. Who says you can't get rich working for somebody else. (If you're in the "club," that is.)

[Bozita]

6. I should have known the Comcast CEO would be on this list.