When CEOs do the right thing...

[Le Jacquelope]

Perhaps we should take a moment to commend them?

http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/9/three-cheers-for-willumstad-canned-aig-ceo-foregos-22mm-severance

Three Cheers For Willumstad! Canned AIG CEO Foregos $22mm Severance (AIG)
Jonathan Kennedy | Sep 22, 08 9:21 AM

Robert Willumstad, ex-CEO of American International Group (AIG), has refused $22 million in severance pay from his former employer.

Given that he was CEO for all of a month and was tossed by Treasury secretary Hank Paulson because he helped forced the government to bail the company out this is EXACTLY the right thing to do. It's also highly unusual and commendable behavior.

In a note to his successor, Edward Liddy, Willumstad indicated that he was refusing the pay on the count that he was unable to execute his own restructuring plan. Willumstad's move consitutes a rare display of propriety in the financial world.

How much will Lehman CEO Dick Fuld take when he walks away from the wreckage of the firm he crashed and burned?

 

[SlickTony]

Wow, talk about a man-bites-dog story...

 

[jomar]

Good for him. How much did he not refuse?

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Good for him. How much did he not refuse?

22 million.

 

[SeaCat]

Is this the same one who is building a huge house on Jupiter Island in Florida?

Cat

 

[Zeb_Carter]

22 million.

So he refused $22 million but took $22 million?

On a lighter note....

The company I used to work for, this was before ENRON, the CEO cooked the books big time to keep the stock price up. A buddy of mine blew the whistle and the CEO was prosecuted by the SEC and was sentenced to 10 years in jail. The bastard had the nerve to sue the company for his severance pay...about $3 million. The company refused and his suit was thrown out of court so fast that his eye are still clicking.