WaMu CEO Alan Fishman Gets $18 Million Golden Parachute
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington Mutual gave Fishman a $7.5 million bonus when it hired him on Sept. 8, and guaranteed him $11.6 million in severance if he was terminated, the so-called "golden parachute" that has created controversy when failed executives walk with huge rewards. Fishman also was eligible for annual bonuses of up to 365 percent of his annual base pay of $1 million to go with 615,000 of shares of now nearly worthless company stock. The fact that WaMu failed, however, can't be blamed on Fishman considering the length of his employment and that he was brought in specifically because the company was in already in trouble.
There remains a possibility that Fishman may decline his severance money from Washington Mutual, as did Robert Willumstad, former chief executive officer of insurance giant AIG. When AIG was bailed out by a 85 billion dollar loan from the government the Willumstad said he wouldn't take the nearly 22 million golden parachute he could have gotten after just three months on the job.
Willumstad sited the money lost by investors and employees of the insurance giant as his reason for declining the payout. Fishman may also forfeit his bonus or he may work out a deal with JP Morgan to remain on the job. Lawmakers have been wrangling over ways to keep federal bailout money from being used to finance golden parachutes for executives who are seen as the cause of financial meltdown.
Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/26/news/companies/fishman_wamu/?postversion=2008092613
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,428641,00.html
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/BUSINESS07/80924019/1020/Business07
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7 Comments
Post a CommentDetail Guy:
I love your positive attitude. At this time I am applying for a multi-million dollar position at your company. Since I will not be there any longer
than 3-4 weeks and I will not have enough time to do a "bad" job, your company would have no basis not to hire me. Where do I report first thing Monday morning?
Alan Fishman if you take that severance you are a Greedy individual. But aren't all CEO's. Shame on Killinger! Isn't it funny how Fishman and Killinger have been friends for 18 years. WaMu should take that severance and give the poor employees that work the branches a bonus. They are the ones that spent years of dedication and trusting in their leaders and ended up loosing mostly everything they saved for!!! My heart goes out to all of you WaMu employees in branches.
Sometimes you do the right thing JUST BECAUSE it is the right thing to do. Hopefully Alan Fishman will do the right thing by turning the payout down. He obviously didn't do anything wrong, however, he certainly didn't do anything to earn it either. If he takes it he joins the Corporate Greed Club. The club that George Bush and his cronies have made so popular in the last eight years..
But you have to agree he didn't actually, in three weeks, do enough of anything to warrant that level of compensation.
Make that "facts".
The obvious point that Mr. Fishman was recently hired and has a track record of preparing banks to maximize their share price and get them sold, is lost on many people. He was not given the slightest opportunity to do anything with WaMu, so he did not "do a bad job on Wall Street." Get the fats, Aaron Smith.
Just another example of how pathetic the system is... do a bad job on wall street and you get paid off in a HUGE way to get the heck out.