While big businesses might be balking at performing all the supposedly complicated math it would require to figure out the ratio between what the CEO makes versus the average employee, the folks at the AFL-CIO just decided to go ahead and figure it out for them. [More]
executive compensation
Report: CEOs Earn 345 Times What The Average Worker Takes Home
By 4.16.13
25 CEOs Who Made More Than Their Companies Paid In Income Taxes
By 8.31.11
The Institute for Policy Studies has just released its 18th annual review of U.S. executive compensation and found that 25 out of the country’s 100 highest-paid chief executives actually earned more in 2010 than their companies paid out in corporate income taxes. [More]
GM Executive Complains About Being Underpaid
By 2.16.10
The Treasury Department now owns 61% of GM, but apparently the new owners are being stingy. The Detroit News says GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Friday that the top 25 senior executives (whose pay packages are being reviewed by the Treasury) are “way, way, way” underpaid. [More]
Judge To BoA: "I'm Glad You Think $91,000 Is Not A Lot Of Money"
By 8.11.09
Recently, the SEC settled with Bank of America over charges that the company mislead its investors about the $3.6 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill as the brokerage was being taken over. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, however, isn’t buying it. He’s refusing to approve the settlement until it can be shown that the $33 million Bank of America agreed to pay is adequate. That’s nice, but he best part is that the judge is being hilariously sarcastic during the hearings.
NY AG: Banks Paid Bonuses That Were Substantially Greater Than The Banks' Net Income
By 7.31.09
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s report on the bonus structures of the banking industry is out and — oh my— it’s damning. The AG says that 3 banks, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP. Morgan Chase, paid out bonuses that ” were substantially greater than the banks’ net income.”
AIG Asks Federal Permission To Pay $2.4 Million In Executive Bonuses
By 7.10.09
A hush fell over the AIG conference room on the day that their Worst Company in America 2009 trophy was unveiled. The eyes of every executive in the room sparkled with just a bit of pride. “Well done, everyone,” said the man at the head of the table. “But we mustn’t rest on our gilded-feces laurels. It’s time to begin our work for next year’s competition.”
Citibank To Raise Salaries By 50% In Reaction To Bonus Limits
By 6.24.09
The AP is reporting that Citibank will be raising salaries for certain employees by as much as 50% in order to offset the new bonus restrictions. The company faces the restrictions because it took bailout money.
Don't You Wish You Made $1 A Year Like AIG's CEO?
By 5.1.09
The NYT DealBook Blog says that AIG’s $1 interim CEO is living pretty well, despite the whole “being hated for something you didn’t do” thing.
Bank Of America CEO: The Bush Administration Made Me Do It!
By 4.24.09
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office is at it again. They’ve been investigating the circumstances that led to the merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch and the subsequent bonus payments to executives. In a letter to Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Cuomo quotes Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis as saying that former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson threatened him with removal from his position and mass firing of the board and senior management if he didn’t allow the merger to go through.
AIG Financial Products Employee's Public Resignation Letter
By 3.25.09
Here is a resignation letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G. It was published in the New York Times.
Treasury Secretary Wants The Ability To Seize Insurance Companies, Hedge Funds
By 3.24.09
The Washington Post is reporting that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will testify before the House Financial Services Committee today and argue that his agency needs broad powers to seize companies and “wind them down” without allowing them to enter bankruptcy.
AIG Turns Over The Names Of Bonus Recipients
By 3.20.09
AIG has complied with Andrew Cuomo’s subpoena and turned over the names of the bonus recipients. The NY AG has released a statement about the issue, which you can read inside.
AIG CEO Asks For Half Of The Bonus Money Back
By 3.18.09
AIG CEO Edward Liddy told the House Financial Services subcommittee this afternoon that he has asked the members of the Financial Products division to voluntarily return half of their bonuses.
NY AG: AIG Paying "Retention" Bonuses To People Who Left The Company
By 3.17.09
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has written a letter to House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, offering some advice on what topics they might discuss at tomorrow’s AIG hearing. Among them: Giving “retention” bonuses to people who have left the company, making 73 millionaires in “the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees” and the fact that without a taxpayer bailout — the “best and brightest” at AIG wouldn’t have jobs from which to collect impressive guaranteed bonuses.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like AIG? Suicide.
By 3.17.09
Another day, another livid politician. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa told a Cedar Rapids radio station that the AIG executives who are taking bonuses should, as an alternative, kill themselves.
NY Attorney General To AIG: You Have Until 4:00 PM To Give Us The Names
By 3.16.09
Andrew Cuomo has written a letter to AIG in which he explains that they will turn over the names of those employees from the Financial Products subsidiary (that’s the division that brought down the company) who are receiving bonuses by 4:00 pm today or they are coming at them with subpoenas. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s another awesome Andrew Cuomo letter after the jump.
Lawmakers, Regulators, Taxpayers Unbelievably Pissed At AIG
By 3.16.09
There’s no shortage of outrage directed at AIG today as the fallout from the bailed-out insurer’s announcement that they intend to use $165 million in taxpayer money to pay bonuses to the very executives that ruined the company continues.
Merrill Lynch Bonus Recipients May Be Revealed Next Week
By 3.13.09
Well, it looks like the whole Merrill Lynch bonus scandal may have a Scooby Doo ending — with a judge unmasking the executives by the end of next week.
