Voices
DEAN
BAKER
HUFFINGTON
02.23.14
ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
The
Secret to
Overpaid
CEOS
I
T’S HARDLY A SECRET that the heads of major corporations
in the United States get mind-bending paychecks. High pay
may be understandable when a top executive turns around a
failing company or vastly expands a company’s revenue and
profit, but CEOs can get paychecks in the tens or hundreds
of millions even when they did nothing especially notable. ¶
For example, Lee Raymond retired from Exxon-Mobil in 2005
with $321 million. (That’s 22,140 minimum wage work years.)
His main accomplishment for the company was sitting at its
head at a time when a quadrupling of oil prices sent profits
soaring. Hank McKinnel walked away from Pfizer in 2006
with $166 million. It would be hard to identify his outstanding accomplishments. ¶ But you don’t have to be mediocre to
get a big paycheck as a CEO. Bob Nardelli pocketed $240 million when he left Home Depot after six years. The company’s
stock price had fallen by 40 percent in his tenure, while the
stock its competitor Lowe’s had nearly doubled.
Bob Nardelli
pocketed
$240 million
when he left
Home Depot
after six years.