Monday, March 16, 2009

The Big Baby Boomer Swindle?

Did you know America's Top CEO's earned $5.4 billion last year? And get this: They were ALL white males and baby boomers.

It's obviously going to take more than 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, that Hillary referred to in her Presidential bid, in order for women to get their fair share. The highest paid female executive is Indra Nooyi of Pepsico. But her salary of $12.7 million (including $4.5 million in bonus pay) pales in comparison to what her male counterparts are receiving.

And it gets even worse for the top African-American CEO, Kenneth Chenault of American Express. Chenault received a 2008 salary of $1.25 million and a $6.11 million cash bonus for his performance in 2006 that vested in February 2009.

Here are the Top Ten Highest Pad CEO's according to Forbes magazine:

Richard Fairbank, age 55, Capital One Financial, earned $249 million

Terry Semel, age 63, Yahoo, earned $230.5 million

Henry Silverman, age 65, Cendant, earned $139.9 million

Bruce Karatz, age 60, KB Homes, earned $135.5 million

Richard S Fuld, Jr., age 60, Lehman Bros. Holdings, earned $122.6 million

Ryan R. Irani, age 71, Occidental Petroleum, earned $80.7 million

Lawrence J. Ellison, age 61, Oracle, earned $75.3 million

John W. Thompson, age 57, Symantec, earned $71.8 million

Edwin M. Crawford, age 57, Caremark Rx, earned $69.6 million

Angelo R. Mozilo, age 67, Countrywide Financial, earned $68.85 million

Now there is an argument you have to have to pay top $$$ to keep your best people but if you look at the above list, one has to question what "best" really means.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is obscene, isn't it?