Stop the presses! Corporate executives are making more money.
We”™re kidding, it”™s not a big deal. Well, maybe to shareholders of companies that posted less than stellar figures.
The Business Journal took a look at the compensation at Fairfield County companies that have filed proxies between Oct. 1, 2006, and March 20 of this year.
The one thing we found is there”™s more transparency in the reports. That”™s a good thing for shareholders. Perhaps not a good thing for someone like Eric Fast, who pulled in $15 million as Crane Co.”™s shares finished the year up 6 percent compared with a 24 percent appreciation in 2005.
Robert Wright, the head of GE”™s NBC unit, led all local executives to date with $28.5 million in compensation last year. Praxair Inc. Chairman Dennis Reilley followed with $25.5 million and GE boss Jeffrey Immelt with $20.5 million.
The average compensation, after removing the aforementioned execs checks, was actually closer to $2.3 million.
Sticking with the hypothesis that transparency is good, it should not necessarily translate into a reining in of an executive”™s pay. Running multibillion-dollar companies is no easy feat and should be rightly compensated.
Shareholders, being shareholders, will no doubt voice their opinions during the upcoming proxy meetings. One exec expected to find himself on the hot seat is Vincent Wasik Jr. of Velocity Express Corp. Two years ago, he was promised a $5 million retirement package that he plans to take advantage of this year. However, his company”™s stock is down more than 40 percent from a year ago. Still, a promise is a promise. We”™ll leave it up to the shareholders to hash it out.
Overall, we can”™t find fault with the pay scale as long as the company performs.
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