Some shareholders may object, but heads of most major financial services firms will have very secure futures even if they're forced outIt's anybody's guess which chief executive of a major financial services firm will be the next to fall victim to the subprime mortgage mess—or when. But should the fallout spread, one thing is certain: Many of the executives currently running financial services companies will leave with significantly less compensation than they thought. Most, that is, but not Richard Fuld Jr. The CEO of Lehman Brothers has nothing to worry about—his exit package is valued at $299 million, putting him close to the record for any such package.
By parsing proxy statements and crunching numbers, analysts can figure out roughly how much the CEOs of major financial services firms might take on their way out. Paul Hodgson, a senior research associate at The Corporate Library, did just that for the heads of 10 financial services firms, at BusinessWeek.com's request.
Some of the numbers uncovered by The Corporate Library are staggering, but a scratch below the surface shows that what drives severance packages can vary widely from company to company. At companies like Bank of America (BAC) or Countrywide Financial (CFC), the bulk of a CEO's exit package is tied up in retirement benefits.
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