These days it's not enough for some chief executives to receive an enormous salary, bonus and grant of stock options. In their proxy statements, companies explain these bonuses by citing a special achievement by the boss. Sometimes the achievements sound a lot like part of the job the CEOs are getting all that other pay to perform. Flush with huge gains from the bull stock market, some companies are simply passing on part of the abundance, pay experts say. And, as always with executive pay, you can expect that a goody enjoyed by a few CEOs will quickly spread to other companies.
Companies say the bonuses are well deserved.
In Fort Wayne, Ind., Tokheim's Mr. Pinner says acquiring a fuel-dispenser business was difficult because other suitors were vying for it and financing for such deals came at a very bad time in the market. Mr. McGinn's package strikes others as excessive. One has to wonder how anyone can be worth so much money over a short period, no matter what his performance. William Hamilton, an Owens Corning spokesman, says the special bonuses were the first he had seen in his nearly 30 years at the company. He adds that she and Mr. Cecere, as chief financial officer, had worked tirelessly to negotiate the national settlement with some 80 law firms.