http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/07/10/8380799/index.htm
Hank McKinnell, who is also head of the Business Roundtable, was even more assertive, dismissing critics who point to his $83 million lump-sum pension, his $16 million in total comp last year, and his stock's 42% decline since he took charge in 2001 as proof of pay for nonperformance. While calling the overall debate "healthy," McKinnell questions the "agenda" of many "executive-compensation activists who try to inflame the issue of CEO pay." Says he: "There's a much larger issue here; compensation is being used as part of a battle over control of the corporation itself." In McKinnell's view, "an unholy alliance" of special interests -- environmentalists, animal-rights activists, hedge funds -- want to wrest decision-making control from boards and CEOs in pursuit of "their narrow interests," even though most shareholders "are pretty happy with the way companies today are being run." McKinnell also says a scrubbing of pay numbers that the Roundtable commissioned found that "a lot of those big ratios everyone points to are just not supported by the data. CEOs are still very well paid, but they're not that well paid." -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
