jet travel to school: Cost to the stockholders: about $600,000

The Rich Are Different | by Devilstower | Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 01:54:10 PM PST
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So what has she found? Marketplace has some of Michelle's [Michelle Leder at footnoted.org ] best finds for 2007.

How about the CEO at Qwest, whose daughter gets to use the corporate jet to travel to school? Puts that kid whose mother pulls up to jr. high in a Hummer in her place. Cost to the stockholders: about $600,000.

Personal travel was a theme in CEO perks this year. Just ask the CEO of I2. The company covered his commuting expenses so he could live in Maine while the company offices were in Dallas. Cost to the stockholders: $949,000 -- and by the way, the company was busy scrambling to avoid collapse. I'm sure the other employees got equally nice treatment.

Failing companies often seem to be the most generous. Take Countrywide, which gave it's new COO a promotion bonus just as the sub-prime mortgage business was heading for the dumper. Cost to the stockholders: $2.62 million. Oh, and when it comes to that housing crisis? Thank goodness executives don't have to worry. See, when housing prices were going up, companies bought executive homes at the market rate and gave any profit to the executive. When housing prices started to fall, shareholders covered any losses so the executives still made a profit. What's that you say? Housing slump? You must be joking.

For executives who wanted to avoid the whole mortgage mess, there were other options. The new CEO of Morgans Hotel Group signed up for a relatively stingy $750,000 a year. Of course the stockholders are coming his housing allowance, which is a mere $30,000 a month. ...