Post by blueneck on Oct 30, 2007 15:58:28 GMT -6
Unflipping believable - outgoing CEO Stan O,Neal presides over biggest losses in company history get $160 million golden parachute.
This is surreal - if you or I get fired we would be lucky to even get unemployment
What a crock
Stan O'Neal will be remembered for the massive write-down Merrill Lynch took under his watch. He leaves the Wall Street firm with his reputation in shreds but with a rich exit package.
By The Wall Street Journal
The departure of Stan O'Neal, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, is now official -- but not the terms of his exit.
Despite expectations that O'Neal would step down from the Wall Street firm Monday morning, the 56-year-old Merrill chief stayed in command until today as lawyers for the board and O'Neal tried to work out terms of an exit package that could exceed $160 million.
The $160 million estimate includes accumulated equity, retirement benefits and deferred compensation, according to an analysis done for The Wall Street Journal. O'Neal began negotiating the terms of his forced departure over the weekend in the wake of an $8.4 billion write-down announced last week.
O'Neal, also the company's chairman, could cash in exercisable stock options valued at $36.8 million based on Monday's 4 p.m. price of $67.42 for Merrill shares. The $160 million estimate also reflects the eventual vesting of 1.27 million restricted shares currently worth about $86 million plus $9.6 million from long-term performance awards.
Merrill Lynch staffers may retain unvested stock grants "upon retirement" if their combined age and length of service equals at least 60 and they don't join a rival during the vesting period, its latest proxy statement says. In addition, the projected package includes retirement benefits that the proxy says were worth $24.8 million and $4.8 million in deferred compensation, both as of late last year.
O'Neal did not have an employment contract and wasn't entitled to cash severance unless he lost his job following a takeover of Merrill Lynch. But the board's compensation committee has the "discretion" to give him severance benefits, the proxy says. In the event of a takeover-related job loss, O'Neal would have been eligible for severance benefits of $29.5 million, as of late last year.
articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/Lose8BillionPocket160Million.aspx
This is surreal - if you or I get fired we would be lucky to even get unemployment
What a crock
Stan O'Neal will be remembered for the massive write-down Merrill Lynch took under his watch. He leaves the Wall Street firm with his reputation in shreds but with a rich exit package.
By The Wall Street Journal
The departure of Stan O'Neal, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, is now official -- but not the terms of his exit.
Despite expectations that O'Neal would step down from the Wall Street firm Monday morning, the 56-year-old Merrill chief stayed in command until today as lawyers for the board and O'Neal tried to work out terms of an exit package that could exceed $160 million.
The $160 million estimate includes accumulated equity, retirement benefits and deferred compensation, according to an analysis done for The Wall Street Journal. O'Neal began negotiating the terms of his forced departure over the weekend in the wake of an $8.4 billion write-down announced last week.
O'Neal, also the company's chairman, could cash in exercisable stock options valued at $36.8 million based on Monday's 4 p.m. price of $67.42 for Merrill shares. The $160 million estimate also reflects the eventual vesting of 1.27 million restricted shares currently worth about $86 million plus $9.6 million from long-term performance awards.
Merrill Lynch staffers may retain unvested stock grants "upon retirement" if their combined age and length of service equals at least 60 and they don't join a rival during the vesting period, its latest proxy statement says. In addition, the projected package includes retirement benefits that the proxy says were worth $24.8 million and $4.8 million in deferred compensation, both as of late last year.
O'Neal did not have an employment contract and wasn't entitled to cash severance unless he lost his job following a takeover of Merrill Lynch. But the board's compensation committee has the "discretion" to give him severance benefits, the proxy says. In the event of a takeover-related job loss, O'Neal would have been eligible for severance benefits of $29.5 million, as of late last year.
articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/Lose8BillionPocket160Million.aspx