CEOs - are they paid too much

AlfredSokol said: "I think so. Just like athletes, I think CEOs get too much money. The ones who have bad years never pay back their salaries do they? What do you think? Are big money CEOs worth it?"

alhamid said: "hell no they aint worth it. neither is a-rod"

trickynick said: "[QUOTE=AlfredSokol]The ones who have bad years never pay back their salaries do they?[/QUOTE] No, they just end up losing their positions if they keep doing a bad job. LOL! Seriously though, The guy in the pic next to your name once famously recommended to invest in companies that any idiot can run because sooner or later any idiot probably WILL run it. I think there are some industries in which management has a greater impact on the overall success of the company. For example, how much talent can it possible require to run Colgate-Palmolive? I mean, yeah, you have to understand the business and probably know a little bit about the supply-chain, manufacturing and what the guys over at Procter & Gamble are likely to do but there are not constant paradigm shifts in the consumer products industry to contend with. No matter how dire the outlook for the economy becomes people are not going to stop brushing their teeth or washing their dishes, are they? In 2004 Colgate Palmolive posted net earnings of $1.327 billion while they paid Reuben Mark, who exercised no stock options that year, $3.24 million. Is it a lot of money? Yes. Are there other people who could have done as good a job for less money? Probably. As a shareholder, am I really concerned about what he is being paid? Not really. The difference in earnings applicable to my shares if he'd been paid half what he was would have been almost nothing. On the other hand, there are industries such as semiconductor test equipment which require from managers an incredible amount of domain expertise and paradigm shifts in the industry are quite frequent. These guys have a much harder job to do than Mr. Mark and are paid much less. That probably has more to do with the size of their companies and the current condition of their industry than it does anything else, but it demonstrates my point nonetheless. What I am trying to say is that I have a hard time classifying all CEO's across the board as being overpaid. In my opinion, that judgement requires consideration of a number of factors such as what decisions they actually have to make, how difficult those decisions are, how the person in question has performed, how rare that person's talents are and the resources of their company and the conditions of their industry on the whole."

AlfredSokol said: "How about when a company loses money and a CEO takes a big bonus? You can't like that as shareholders, can you?"

trickynick said: "[QUOTE=AlfredSokol]How about when a company loses money and a CEO takes a big bonus? You can't like that as shareholders, can you?[/QUOTE] I wouldn't know, I don't invest in companies that lose money. And if one of mine started to lose money, I'd get out no matter what the CEO was getting paid."

AlfredSokol said: "What kind of people pay $300 for Barbra Streisand tickets? Maybe that's a better question."

Heather said: "I think they should get paid commensurate with the job they do. I have to agree that actors get paid a lot more for what they do. Almost too much."

HappyHarry said: "[QUOTE=AlfredSokol]What kind of people pay $300 for Barbra Streisand tickets? Maybe that's a better question.[/QUOTE] I think you know the answer to that question :)"

poldo said: "[QUOTE=AlfredSokol]How about when a company loses money and a CEO takes a big bonus? You can't like that as shareholders, can you?[/QUOTE] Absolutely .. the CEOs pay packages are an insult to humanity and not only CEOs but the question/poll here was about CEOs and not actors as for BS . .... she has a great voice and she can fund any movie she likes with her money at least she has a talent"

poldo said: "[QUOTE=poldo]Absolutely .. the CEOs pay packages are an insult to humanity and not only CEOs but the question/poll here was about CEOs and not actors as for BS . .... she has a great voice and she can fund any movie she likes with her money at least she has a talent[/QUOTE] more than the pay though it's the severance package they get after mismanaging a company for several months or worse years stock price down 75% but they walk away with millions and a hand shake"