HP's Contemptuous Board
With this flagrantly over-the-top gift, the board is showing contempt for its shareholders, employees and communities. This board shares none of the values that infused HP when its founders ran the place. Shameful.Business Week: HP's $58,000-a-Day Interim CEO. Hewlett-Packard's board has agreed to pay Chief Financial Officer Robert Wayman a $3 million cash bonus for serving as interim CEO from Feb. 8, when it ousted Carly Fiorina, to Apr. 1, when former NCR (NCR ) Chief Executive Mark Hurd was hired.
As a long term HP exec and CFO, Wayman undoubtedly knows where lots of skeletons are buried. Like the Medal of Freedom given to George Tenet, this bonus will help keep those skeletons interred.
Posted by: Larry | April 07, 2005 at 03:31 PM
r u a stakeholder /shareholder Dan ??
Under what personal mandate /desginate do you think that its a "Contemptuous Board" ??
All I think about is my P/E ratio.. what about you ??
Posted by: /pd | April 07, 2005 at 05:26 PM
Well, Mr. /pd, $3 million in unnecessary dollars just came out of the E side of your equation. HP could have gotten away with a bonus of 1/10 of that and still would have looked generous.
Note that this was on top of his regular salary as CFO, and I won't be suprised to find out that he got extra options as well.
But never you fear: Arnold is trying to kill the California public employee pensions, because the pension managers are some of the strongest and most powerful opponents of excessive CEO compensation, and through their stock ownership actually have some power to do something about it.
Posted by: Joe Buck | April 07, 2005 at 08:51 PM
Dan, my friend
Blame the Tax Code: $'s to him are deductible. $'s to the stockholders are cash outta the corporate treasury.
That doesn't make it any the less outrageous: It just discusses where the Big Gummint puts the carrots.
Posted by: Bob | April 07, 2005 at 09:55 PM
Bob, thanks, but I'll keep the blame where it belongs: on the craven board members.
Posted by: Dan Gillmor | April 08, 2005 at 08:22 AM