Thread: WaMu Gives New CEO Mega Payout as Bank Fails

WaMu Gives New CEO Mega Payout as Bank Fails
Friday, September 26

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,428641,00.html

Nice work — if you can get fired from it.

That's just what one Alan H. Fishman might have thought when he woke up Friday morning.

Fishman was the new chief executive officer for Washingon Mutual — WaMu — the nation's largest savings and loan, which was taken over Thursday night by federal bank regulators and quickly dumped in a fire sale to JPMorgan Chase for the Wal-Mart-like price of $1.9 billion.

But don't cry for Fishman, who reportedly was sky-high — literally — last night, on a flight from New York to Seattle, when WaMu collapsed. Even though he's only been on the job for less than three weeks, he's bailing out with parachute worth close to $20 million, according to an executive compensation analysis conducted for the New York Times by James F. Reda Associates.

That's right, $20 million for 17 days on the job ... and his company failed.

Fishman, who formerly was chairman of Meridian Capital Group, apparently was much coveted by WaMu, which was counting on him to lead the failing thrift out of mortgage troubles that pushed the bank to a $3.3 billion second-quarter loss.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, WaMu threw a $7.5 million bonus at Fishman when it hired him on Sept. 8, and guaranteed him an immediate cash severence of $11.6 million — both of which he gets to keep.

He also was eligible for annual bonuses of up to 365 percent of his annual base pay — set at $1 million — to go with millions of shares of company stock.

Fishman does lose out on a big bonus that would have kicked in had he remained on the job through 2009.

Documents show WaMu was going to pay their new boss $8 million to simply not screw up and get fired — all negotiated as the Seattle-based banking giant's loses climbed to an estimated $20 billion.

And anyone who thinks this type of behavior will end with a taxpayer funded bailout of wall street is sniffing up some pretty strong stuff.

I remember leaving a job after 3 years and three months later getting a
bill for a shirt they said was not returned. Guess I worked there to long

That's 20 million more the taxpayer will be on the hook for, if there is a bailout. We are supposed to reward this kind of wreckless behavior with a bailout, Hell No!

Any company's board that does not declare the golden parachute clause of those CEOs null and void without length of tenure in the job less than one hundred years.

Originally Posted by florgal

And anyone who thinks this type of behavior will end with a taxpayer funded bailout of wall street is sniffing up some pretty strong stuff.

THIS WILL ENCOURAGE MORE BAD BEHAVIOR.

Originally Posted by vortex

Any company's board that does not declare the golden parachute clause of those CEOs null and void without length of tenure in the job less than one hundred years.

LOL...ONE HUNDRED YEARS. AND THOSE HAVE TO BE SUCCESSFUL YEARS TOO!!! LOL

Originally Posted by redpony353

Originally Posted by florgal

And anyone who thinks this type of behavior will end with a taxpayer funded bailout of wall street is sniffing up some pretty strong stuff.

THIS WILL ENCOURAGE MORE BAD BEHAVIOR.

Yep. And the bailout will be even bigger next time because you can bet there WILL BE a next time.

This whole mess reminds me of my brother in law. He gets in trouble and his dad bails him out. Then he gets in trouble and again, his dad bails him out. Then guess what he does? He gets in trouble and his dad bails him out. For YEARS this has been going on. Right now, he's sitting in a Virginia jail and his dad is spending massive amounts of money, borrowing on his house, working overtime, doing without in order to pay the lawyer to once again get his son's sorry butt outta jail. If and when he gets out, what will he do? Probably get in trouble, yet again, because he knows his dad will do everything he can to bail him out. When one is not held accountable and punished for bad behavior, you can expect that bad behavior to continue unabated, whether one is an idiot brother in law or a wall street big-wig or politician.

Originally Posted by florgal

Originally Posted by redpony353

Originally Posted by florgal

And anyone who thinks this type of behavior will end with a taxpayer funded bailout of wall street is sniffing up some pretty strong stuff.

THIS WILL ENCOURAGE MORE BAD BEHAVIOR.

Yep. And the bailout will be even bigger next time because you can bet there WILL BE a next time.

This whole mess reminds me of my brother in law. He gets in trouble and his dad bails him out. Then he gets in trouble and again, his dad bails him out. Then guess what he does? He gets in trouble and his dad bails him out. For YEARS this has been going on. Right now, he's sitting in a Virginia jail and his dad is spending massive amounts of money, borrowing on his house, working overtime, doing without in order to pay the lawyer to once again get his son's sorry butt outta jail. If and when he gets out, what will he do? Probably get in trouble, yet again, because he knows his dad will do everything he can to bail him out. When one is not held accountable and punished for bad behavior, you can expect that bad behavior to continue unabated, whether one is an idiot brother in law or a wall street big-wig or politician.

YA. WHEN YOU KEEP BAILING SOMEONE OUT, THEY DONT HAVE TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. AND THEY KNOW YOU WILL ALWAYS BAIL THEM OUT. SO THEY DONT LEARN BECAUSE THEY DONT HAVE TO. THEY DONT WORRY ABOUT BEING RESPONSIBLE, BECAUSE THEY KNOW YOU "HAVE THEIR BACK". IT GOES ON AND ON TILL YOU FINALLY SAY "NO". THEN THATS WHEN THE HEALING BEGINS.

LETS MAKE SURE THEY SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!!!

LETS CALL AND FILL THOSE VOICE MAILS AND CLOG THOSE FAXES AND EMAILS UP!!!


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