High-Profile CEO Exit Packages

By Bob L.
Sat.Aug.14,2010

This just the tip of the iceberg of why this country has no jobs for the private Citizens, this is just to leave a company, HOW about their monthly pay, or to make it easy, by the year, by any chance do you think that we would have jobs in this country if the wages of Corporate exes. were TWO THIRDS less then what they are today.

Just think if they gave up all this pork they get, companies would not be on the bankruptcy list, and there would be plenty of jobs to go around for every one, but no they have to try to out others, ( better known as staying ahead of the JONES ).

Then if we ban Discrimination, and ban Discrimination claims for all Nationalities ( do your job and you will have a job, you whine and cry or think that they owed you that job, you are gone, NO RECOURSE, if you do your job then you have a job for life ) but you have to be qualified, some companies will train you on the job if you are willing to learn that job, but they will not JUST give it to you.

Companies won’t hire you, if they know that they are going to spend a lot of time in court for firing some one.

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By Brooke Sopelsa
Thursday, August 12, 2010

Provided by

Hewlett-Packard’s former CEO Mark Hurd stepped down on Aug. 6 after a public relations nightmare involving falsified expense reports and sexual harassment allegations. He didn’t, however, leave empty handed. Hurd is walking away with a severance package worth more than $30 million.

Multi-million dollar parting gifts for CEOs are not uncommon, even when the chief executives leave the company under less-than-pleasant circumstances. CNBC asked executive compensation research firm Equilar to calculate the dollar value of some of the most high-profile golden parachutes.

To get the severance package total, Equilar included the disclosed amounts received by each person including any bonuses paid out as part of the separation agreement. The firm also included the deferred compensation and pension benefits found in the proxy statement. The “stock price change during tenure” figure was calculated by CNBC and has been adjusted for dividend payments.

Here are the executives who made the grandest exits:

William McGuire

Severance package: $1.2 billion
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH – News)
Years as CEO: 1991 – 2006
Stock price change during tenure: +5,378%

After leaving his CEO post, McGuire was forced to forfeit more than $400 million worth of stock options and retirement benefits to settle civil and SEC suits related to the company’s options practices. As part of his agreement with the SEC, he agreed not to serve as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years.

Lee Raymond

Severance package: $392.5 million
ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM – News)
Years as CEO: 1999 – 2005
Stock price change during tenure: +63%

Raymond served as CEO of Exxon Corporation from 1993 until its merger with Mobil Oil in 1999. Raymond joined Exxon in 1963 as a production research engineer and worked his way up the ladder. He retired in 2005 and was succeeded by current CEO Rex Tillerson.

Robert Nardelli

Severance package: $212 million
Home Depot (NYSE: HD – News)
Years as CEO: 2000 – 2007
Stock price change during tenure: -4%

Nardelli left his post after a year of heavy criticism for everything from his pay package to the underperforming retailer’s corporate governance.

Henry McKinnell

Severance package: $195.8 million
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE – News)
Years as CEO: 2001 – 2006
Stock price change during tenure: -36%

In the months leading up to his resignation, Pfizer’s board of directors became increasingly concerned with McKinnell’s management style and struggles to bring new drugs to the market, according to the NY Times.

Stanley O’Neal

Severance package: $161.5 million
Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER – News)
Years as CEO: 2002 – 2007
Stock price change during tenure: +51%

O’Neal is widely blamed for steering the firm into subprime loans, which resulted in $8 billion in losses in the summer of 2007. O’Neal was replaced by John Thain.

Michael Ovitz

Severance package: $81.6 million
Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS – News)
Years as CEO: 1995 – 1997
Stock price change during tenure: -23%

Ovitz served as Disney’s president for just 14 months before he left the company and got his hefty exit package. Investors sued Disney over the eye-popping payout, but Disney won and Ovitz received the full amount.