One thing that makes some people cynical — not me, of course, but “some people” — is a failed CEO getting nearly $50 million to go away, on top of a $5m severance package. Case in point: Kevin Rollins at DELL Computer Corporation.
2 thoughts on “Nothing Succeeds Like Failure”
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Don’t even get me started. This stuff goes on all the time at the top-level management offices, natch. Cactus Lizzie, sounds like you did some shrewd and quick thinking on your part! My husband has all his assets in safe places now, no longer in stocks.
Well count me in as one of those cynical people. This isn’t the first story of this type by far, of course. Bad management, or even downright malfeasance, occurs at the highest levels of a corporation, but its all the “little guys” who end up getting laid off as a result, with often little warning and frequently not much financial compensation.
Meanwhile, the CEO who is fired doesn’t really suffer very much at all financially, if anything. Many of them can just retire and do nothing for the rest of their lives, if they choose to. Or they go on to find another CEO position, or become a “consultant,” write books, or go on the public speaking circuit.
Not so the “little guy,” who if he happens to be middle-aged or older, may have great difficulty in finding another comparable job. And then there’s the loss of health benefits, and the “pre-existing condition” health clause exclusion that will kick in if he does find another job to support his/her spouse and family. Good luck if you or anyone in your family had prior history of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or any other serious problem requiring expensive meds and/or surgery or tests.
I really don’t think the Enron scandal changed anything at all on Wall Street, which is why I eased my way out of all individual stock holdings. I remember how Tyco International’s former CEO Dennis Kozlowski was once voted A+’s across the board in various categories of performance, by one of the most popular finance magazines, as one of the very best CEO’s in America!!! I was thinking of buying Tyco stock anyway, and I did. But I bailed out 2 days after Kozlowski announced he was going to split the company into 3 parts, because I smelled a rat. I lost only $750 by selling so early, but it could’ve been much more had I waited any longer. That was even before the Kozlowski scandal became known, after which the stock price plunged.