If McKesson (MCK) were sold tomorrow and Chief Executive Officer John Hammergren were fired, he’d be eligible to walk away from the medical-products company with $292 million in severance pay—almost half of it in restricted stock and option awards that were intended as incentives to keep him on the job.
His tenure has been good for McKesson shareholders. Since Hammergren took the CEO post in early 2001, the company’s shares have soared by 541.4 percent, compared with a 59.4 percent rise in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index through last week.
McKesson’s board has rewarded him, in part, with a golden parachute that’s one of the largest among current CEOs, says Aaron Boyd, director of governance research at Equilar, which tracks executive compensation. Corporate goodbye gifts for CEOs have drawn increasing scrutiny since former General Electric (GE) CEO Jack Welch stirred outrage with a $417 million retirement payout more than a decade ago. Since the 2008 financial crisis, shareholders have more frequently taken action to challenge such packages, Boyd says. -By Dawn Kopecki, Bloomberg Businessweek
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