[pessimist]

The really disgusting part is that these CEO's have absolutely nothing to lose. If Meg Whitman gets this job she is basically guaranteed 10's of millions of dollars - whether or not she ruins the company. Carly Fiorina, Mark Hurd, Leo Apotheker and the ex-Compaq CEO (Capellas?) all walked away with 20+ million dollars. And for what?

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard - not to mention Steve Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg etc. - earned their billions with brilliant and gutsy decision making, while these parasites earned their money by being better schmoozers than their business school classmates.

[cynicalkane]

Imagine if you worked for BigCo, and one day your boss says to you, "You're fired... and we're also taking back your stock options and severance pay."

Because that's what you're proposing doing to a CEO. Yeah, they're rich and proportionally more of their pay is comprised of non-salary items. Oh well. Yeah, you don't like what HP executive management did to the company. I agree, it sucks. But in the real world, people negotiate trading work for pay, and you can't just yank it back because you didn't like the work.

(Unless you negotiate some provision to do so, which some companies do. But not HP.)

[pessimist]

Well, if I get fired, my unvested stock options certainly dont suddenly vest. And I dont get any severance pay. So yes, I propose that CEO's get exactly that treatment.

[cynicalkane]

I'd say it's time for you to negotiate yourself to another company. Severance pay, at least, should be standard.

(Edit: I'm taking the inference you're working for a big company. If you're working for a startup, we're talking about a whole 'nother world.)

[chollida1]

The theory is, and I"m not necessarily a believer in it, that if you take a CEO job, it's often the last job you ever take.

CEO's like sports coaches are hired to be fired. It's really rare for a CEO to leave on their own terms.

We like to think of CEO's going from one company to another, but in truth once you've been a CEO and fired you don't often get that chance again.

The large severance pay is supposed to reflect the "fact" that you probably won't get a job like this again.

[thematt]

I agree completely, which is why I don't own HP stock. From my perspective it shouldn't really bother me unless I'm an HP shareholder and it's my money they're playing with. If the company wants to waste tens of millions cycling through a new CEO every year or two -- so be it. It'll be that much easier for a competitor to eat their lunch. If the shareholders cared enough they would throw out the board of directors.