Bonusy za krachujúce banky

Consider Charles Prince, CEO of Citigroup until the board of directors demanded his scalp for plunging the biggest bank in the U.S. into the center of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Given the scale of the debacle at Citigroup--where the losses are still mounting--it's not at all clear whether Prince can expect to find another job at the top of Corporate America.

But he's not likely to suffer. A Wall Street Journal article reported that the disgraced executive was walking away with benefits worth $29.5 million.

Prince wasn't the only Wall Street boss to walk the plank over the mortgage mess. Stan O'Neal was forced out as CEO of Merrill Lynch for presiding over billions in losses as a result of the housing crash.

But O'Neal's walk-away money makes Prince look poor: $165.5 million in various types of stock grants and retirement funds. And that's not all. The Journal noted, "Mr. O'Neal is also expected to receive a portion of his salary for the year"--although a Merrill spokesperson wouldn't say how much. "Last year [2006], Mr. O'Neal earned $700,000 in base pay and $18.5 million in a cash bonus."

Last July, when Bear Stearns became the first Wall Street firm hit by the credit crisis after two of its hedge funds collapsed, Cayne "was playing in a bridge tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Then, in early January, the 73-year-old Cayne was forced out, too. But he remains the owner of 4.9 percent of Bear Stearns stock, worth an estimated $1.3 billion.

Článok:socialistworker.org/2008/01/18/reward-for-crashing-the-economy

08.09.2008