Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission finalized a long-delayed rule that will require many businesses to publicly disclose the ratio of their top executive’s pay to the earnings of the typical employee. If the data in a newly released report is accurate, then the CEOs of Chipotle, CVS, Walmart, and Discovery Communications are each making more than 1,000 times the average salary of the people they employ. [More]
executive pay
Lenovo CEO Turns Fairy Godmother, Hands Over Bonus To Employees
By 7.23.12
Yes, both CEOs and Lenovo are frequent targets of our posts. We generally mock CEOs for lavish pay even with dubious accomplishments, and Lenovo for a general inability to sell and support products that consumers seem to really like. Despite our branding them an anti-capitalist prank, the China-based electronics company has had a record year, and CEO Yang Yuanqing received a pretty nice bonus of $5.2 million. So he did something crazy that most of his counterparts in the US would probably never consider: he divided $3 million of that bonus up among 10,000 employees. [More]
Lawmakers Push For Companies To Disclose Ratio Of CEO Pay To That Of Employees
By 3.8.12
Section 953(b) of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires publicly traded companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay as a proportion of the median-paid employee at the firm. And yet, the Securities & Exchange Commission has yet to even propose a regulation for public comment, which would get the ball rolling on enforcing the act. So more than two dozen members of the Congress and Senate have written the SEC asking the agency to act immediately. [More]
CEOs Had To Make Do With Paltry 36.5 Percent Raises This Year
By 12.16.11
Being your own boss means giving yourself however big a raise you darn well please. A survey of the honchos at each Standard & Poor 500 company found that CEOs and their boards deemed their services an average of 36.5 percent more valuable than the year before, judging from the raises they received. [More]
Comcast's CEO Pay Valued At $31.1 M. Did He Earn It?
By 4.7.11
$31.1 million is what you get for being the CEO of Comcast, reports the AP in their breakdown of Brian Robert’s compensation package. Do you feel this pay is deserving and accurately reflects your experience as a Comcast customer? Our handy poll has buttons that you can push to tell the world your opinion. Just don’t push the red button with the lips on it. That orders more naughty movies and makes a silver bell in Brian Robert’s office go ting-a-ling. [More]
CEOs Who Fire More Workers Earn More
By 9.2.10
An analysis of executive pay found that CEOs of the 50 firms that laid off the most workers since the beginning of the economic meltdown earned 42% more than the average pay for an S&P 500 company. Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it’s food for thought, especially for those in the bread line. [More]
The CEOs Who Suffered The Most Massive Pay Cuts Last Year
By 8.11.10
There are pay freezes and then there is the CEO Paycheck Shrink Ray. CNN lists the CEOs who were the biggest victims of the latter. [More]
Aw, You Missed Your Earnings Target. Here's A Pity Bonus.
By 3.10.10
Some execs are getting a “pity bonus” in their stockings this year. With the recession on, many execs are finding it hard to meet earnings targets or suffer from pummeled stock prices. So boards are having heart and changing the rules so the execs can still get a bonus. [More]
Banking Bailout Party: New Details Emerge
By 2.10.09
The New York Times has details about the new bailout plan Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is scheduled to talk about later today. Here’s a rundown of what’s on the menu:
Gee, How Much Does A Bailed Out Executive Make, Anyway?
By 2.4.09
The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration announced a $500,000 pay cap that prohibits bonuses for any companies that take additional taxpayer assistance.
By 1.4.09
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The New York Times has an article discussing Congressional proposals to limit executive pay. Although the financial industry may deserve a pay cap, the author argues, other industries would be harmed by a cap.
Treasury Says It Will Agree To Cap Wall Street Executive Pay
By 9.24.08
One of the major sticking points of the inevitable Wall Street bailout was executive pay — but the New York Times says that Treasury Secretary and former CEO of Goldman Sachs, Henry M. Paulson Jr., has agreed to compensation caps for the executives of firms that benefit from the bailout.
By 3.20.08
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Bank of America announced it would be cutting bonuses for top company executives this year. They must have realized you shouldn’t not reward someone for losing tons of money. [NYT]
Shareholders To Decide If Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg Deserves $21 Million
By 11.3.07
Verizon will deign to consider an advisory vote on executive compensation from shareholders starting in 2009. Shareholders demanded the right to vote on executive pay at last year’s annual meeting. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg’s salary increased 11% last year to $21,309,264. Seidenberg’s salary has risen consistently, unlike Verizon’s profits.
CEO Pay Up 298%, Average Worker's? 4.3% (1995-2005)
By 4.9.07
There’s been a lot of ballyhoo lately about ballooning executive pay, so here’s a look at how CEO incomes rose over the years in relation to Joe Blow’s paycheck.
Why Sprint Can't Fire Gary Forsee: A Known Bad Is Better Than An Unknown Worse
By 2.9.07
For Sprint, life with Gary might be bad, but who knows how much worse it could be without him? That’s the rationale keeping the shareholders from replacing the CEO, asserts an internal Sprint source.
Sprint: No Bonuses This Year, Everyone's Gotta Buckle Down, Except For The Executives
By 2.9.07
Sprint employee bonuses this year were reduced to nearly zero, while executive pay remained untouched, according to an inside source. The demoralizing effect of this pay cut undoubtedly contributes to the cellphone company’s substandard customer service.
