Exxon Exec Defends Payout
This guy got $150 million to go away. How much can we raise to send Bush into early retirement? I wonder if we can get a donation from Moneybags here since he can thank BushCo. for his windfall?
Former Exxon chief Lee Raymond defended his $150 million payout and his industry's perceived gouging of American consumers saying , "People don't understand the time frame that we operate in. We operate in terms of 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-year cycles and to put that in context, that's 20 (U.S.) Congresses."
But the oil industry didn't report record profits during just ANY Congressional term or just ANY Presidential administration. Six years after closed door meetings with Vice President Cheney's energy taskforce and ten years into a Republican dominated Congress, Exxon, et al., is getting theirs. And Raymond won't apologize for it. In fact, he acts like an innocent bystander who just found $150 million on a park bench.
According to a CNN article,
Raymond denied having any role in formulating his $52 million 2005 pay package, the $98.4 million lump sum retirement payment he received when he left ExxonMobil (up $0.46 to $64.00, Research) on Dec. 31, or any other compensation he received over his 43-year career with Exxon. He told his audience he had no influence over the pay decisions made by the company's board of directors.
And then he drops this doozy, "I have never had a conversation in my whole career about my compensation," he said. Now imagine that. This twit did not start out as a CEO. Surely, somewhere along the line he had a regular job that he had to apply for, interview for, and then discuss salary, just like the rest of us. Or did he just have the incredible luck of working for a company that was so generous it always beat employees to the punch and raised wages without their asking—to the point of $150 million!?!?!?! Maybe so?
He says later that Exxon's policy was one in which employee salaries reflected the financial health of the company. When Exxon did well, it's employees did well. And yet, I find it hard to believe guys out on the oil rigs saw the kind of bounce in pay Raymond did over the last several years. Somebody tell me I'm wrong.
And not to be left out of the Bush Bashing Band Wagon: "When President Bush's suggestion of using ethanol produced from switchgrass as an alternative to gasoline came up, Raymond shook his head and grinned sarcastically."
What a dick.
Comments
Raymond’s payout might not be as bad as what some of his peers have received but it’s still outrageous. Exxon Mobil’s performance over the last two years is the result of soaring fuel and commodity prices, not management brilliance. And it comes at a time when investors are feeling less prosperous because of what they are paying at the fuel pump. Read about that at http://www.soxfirst.com/50226711/exxon_payout_nice_work_if_you_can_get_it.php
Posted by: Sox First | April 20, 2006 2:56 PM