Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Lee
Honestly, I don't have a problem with it. I'd never do it with my own money, even if I had it, and I wouldn't do it with the company's money, even if it were budgeted. But hey, if they gave the guy a $1 million office redo budget, what did he do wrong? It's not like coming in under budget was gonna save one laid off worker's job.
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I know that is your perspective Rick (from your posts over the years), but I find it appalling (not your perspective, the excess
). Thain oversaw Merrills' nosedive into noexistence, and then thought he deserved a 10 million dollar bonus for his efforts last year. He handed out nearly 4 BILLION dollars in ML bonuses a month early (just prior to the BOA takeover) in order to beat the deal. Now as BOA digests the "crap" that he left behind (with 45 BILLION in taxpayer dollars), nearly 35,000 people (some of them longtime friends of mine) will likely lose their jobs in the near future. Spending 1 million on his office "just because he can" truly is just a drop in the bucket, but damn, he cut the bottom out of the bucket. I personally am tired of executives earning 10s of millions (sometimes 100s) a year when it's at the expense of the corporation's coffers, employee jobs, etc.. This "excess" has become the de facto standard during the course of my 20+ year corporate experience, and no, "they" are not worth it imo. It's kind of like giving a 20 year old a 50 million dollar signing bonus and they don't even turn out to be a decent player, much less great. It's totally wacko imo...
edited: I just saw where Thain's "driver" was receiving a $230K salary per year...seems perfectly reasonable I suppose
