Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg has decided to bring the hammer of his authority crashing down on the executive pay packages of the seven firms receiving the most federal aid. According to media reports, Feinberg and the government will limit the pay of the twenty five highest-paid executives at these companies, with salaries taking the biggest cuts.
In all, salaries are expected to plummet 90 percent on average and total compensation will most likely fall by about 50 percent, marking a huge decrease in the amount that many executives will be receiving as compensation this year. The executives of AIG’s financial products …read more

Bank of America’s outgoing chief executive Ken Lewis, whose resignation from the post came as a complete surprise to Bank of America’s board of directors, will essentially earn no money for his work in 2009 due to the mandate of Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master on compensation. Lewis will instead return about $1 million to the bank.
Feinberg, who has the authority to set executive compensation levels of seven major corporations that received federal bailout money, suggested that Lewis should receive no wages or special compensation for 2009. Lewis agreed with Feinberg’s suggestions and stated that he does not …read more

As most people are already aware, the financial crisis has been largely blamed on excessive risks taken on the part of financial systems that aimed to bring in huge paydays for bank employees. Now, though, the Federal Reserve plans to implement several rules that will change how banks pay their employees in order to avoid dangerous risk-taking.
 
The government has faced enormous pressure from both the outraged public and from other countries, such as France and Germany, to curb these harmful practices. In response to these desires, the Fed has finally rolled out a series of guidelines that will come into …read more

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has decided decrease his annual salary to $1 for the year 2010, according to Oracle’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move will shave exactly $999,999 off of Ellison’s income compared to this year, but fortunately for Ellison, the world’s fourth-wealthiest man, his base salary only accounts for about 1.2 percent of his total earnings.
Other massively wealthy executives have paved the way in the field of $1 base salary reductions, such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. According to Oracle’s filing with the SEC, Ellison’s company wants …read more

Many investors and a large part of the general public have expressed their outrage and disgust at the excessive compensation practices of several corporate executives essentially draining their companies dry. In response to this situation, Obama has proposed new legislation that would give shareholders larger control over pay practices, allowing them to limit these golden parachutes and other forms of reckless compensation.
 
“This financial crisis had many significant causes, but executive compensation practices were a contributing factor,” according to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a statement he released today.
 
The say on pay law, as the concept is referred to in the …read more