Darkbeer
04-22-2003, 12:17 PM
Have They No Shame? (http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ceo/articles/0,15114,443051,00.html) - Fortune, 4/14/03
Sub-Title: Their performance stank last year, yet most CEOs got paid more than ever. Here's how they're getting away with it.
QuikQuote: "The acid test for reform," wrote Warren Buffett in his most recent letter to shareholders, "will be CEO compensation." With most of the results now in, the acid strip is bright red: Corporate reform has failed. Not only does executive pay seem more decoupled from performance than ever, but boards are conveniently changing their definition of "performance." "From a compensation point of view," says Matt Ward, an independent pay consultant, "it's a whole new bag of tricks."
Or take Disney's Michael Eisner. After he failed to clear his bonus hurdle two years running, his board lowered the performance bar, and then--hooray!--he finally cleared it. An Olympian effort worth $5 million.
Sub-Title: Their performance stank last year, yet most CEOs got paid more than ever. Here's how they're getting away with it.
QuikQuote: "The acid test for reform," wrote Warren Buffett in his most recent letter to shareholders, "will be CEO compensation." With most of the results now in, the acid strip is bright red: Corporate reform has failed. Not only does executive pay seem more decoupled from performance than ever, but boards are conveniently changing their definition of "performance." "From a compensation point of view," says Matt Ward, an independent pay consultant, "it's a whole new bag of tricks."
Or take Disney's Michael Eisner. After he failed to clear his bonus hurdle two years running, his board lowered the performance bar, and then--hooray!--he finally cleared it. An Olympian effort worth $5 million.