CEO Declines Payout From Botched Company
from the amazing,-but-true dept
Phil writes “I know how irked you get by failed CEOs getting monster golden handshakes. I guess this is either conscience, regret or supreme embarrassment, but Enron Corp. Chairman Ken Lay has elected to decline a $60.6 million payout once the nation’s top buyer and seller of natural gas is merged into its smaller, but stronger rival Dynegy Inc.; essentially a rescue made necessary by the spectacular mismanagement of executives handpicked by Mr. Lay. Mr. Lay acknowledged all the problems and took responsibility for them during a confessional conference call with analysts and investors that was remarkable for its frankness. For some reason, he missed reading the page of the modern CEO’s handbook that tells our fearless commanders to be sure to blame the underlings, the economy, the politicians, the bankers, the fickleness of consumers, foreign wars and the weather (not necessarily in that order) for everything that goes wrong on their watch.” I guess this one falls under amazing, but true. Of course, he may still get some other huge retirement package – but Mr. Lay actually did a good job for a while with Enron, before eventually screwing it all up.
