I don’t think I’ve seen enough CEOs take responsibility.
This must be the 10th time I comment this on Lemmy and you might already know this, but:
The reason a CEO gets paid what he gets paid is not because of the value he adds to the company (as you pointed out, anyone could do the job), but because when the company fucks up (whether due to his decisions, or those of the board, or just anything, really), he takes the fall so the company can keep on doing whatever shady shit they’re doing and the board can act like they had no idea what was going on.
Kissaki@feddit.org 2 days ago
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I know one CEO who took full responsibility … in the back.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 2 days ago
It’s not that they take responsibility, but rather in extreme circumstances they take the plunge and resign, or they’re fired. So the company can say they’re turning a new leaf
Examples from a quick search:
Hank McKinnell, CEO of Pfizer, received a US$188 million severance package after his resignation, even after a 44% decline in the company’s stock value since he took over in 2001.
Jeff Smisek, the former CEO of United Airlines, received a separation payment of $4.875 million in cash along with additional equity awards and other benefits for a total of close to $37 million.
United was in the middle of a corruption scandal and of course he took the fall, but I’m 100% sure he wasn’t acting alone.
Shady companies are always gonna be shady. But they’ll oust a CEO every now and then to pretend like they’re gonna change.
Kissaki@feddit.org 12 hours ago
Does it need that much pay for someone to take the fall?
I feel like, of that’s the primary or sole motivator to pay so much, you could get someone “to take the fall in such rare cases” for much less.
I’d certainly be willing to for 2 mil. I don’t need millions for years and then a multi-million severance package.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 10 hours ago
Thing is, you may have to go to jail, depending on what the company is caught doing. Your name will be all over the news too.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 2 days ago
The reason a CEO gets paid what they get paid is that they also sit on the boards of other companies and vote for the compensation packages of their CEOs, who also sit on the board of the CEO’s company. It’s literally a circlejerk.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 2 days ago
That helps, but largely the boards consist of major shareholders, or people that the shareholders have elected to be there.
The board, representing the shareholders, needs to make sure the company maximizes shareholder value above all else. They steer the company in very broad strokes. But if the company does something illegal or highly unpopular, the board members want themselves, the shareholders and the company in general to be as insulated as possible. So the CEO is a sacrificial lamb who either resigns or is fired, and takes the golden parachute. The idea is that the CEO was at fault and everything’s gonna be better now (no it’s not lol)
Honytawk@feddit.nl 2 days ago
And what kind of job do you think those shareholders do?
They are CEOs of other companies.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 2 days ago
Being a CEO and being a shareholder have nothing to do with each other.
The truly rich, AKA the major shareholders, aren’t going to bother with a job, unless running their own company (probably the one they’re the major shareholder at).
Then the big institutional shareholders (Blackrock and the like) invest other people’s money - people like you and me.
Only a minority of shareholders for any given company, are CEOs at other companies.
It’s still a club for the ultra rich and we ain’t in it. I’m just saying that your average CEO is set up to be a scapegoat for even richer and shadier people (while still very much not being one of us working class citizens)