Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a lot of corporate giants crumble in highly public circumstances. At best, they’ve impacted the global economy. At worst, they’ve perpetrated destruction on the world that it will take years to fix. The heads of many CEOs have rolled because of this, but in many cases, those heads have landed softly on 1,000-count pillowcases in Greenwich, having been gently laid to rest there by billowy golden parachutes. Meanwhile, the public is left to ogle astoundedly outside the privet hedges. But in the case of BP CEO Tony Hayward, CNNMoney says that’s not likely to be the case.
Here’s why:
• Upon departure, Hayward stands to gain nearly 1.2 million “performance shares” under a deferred compensation plan for company directors. But those shares, which would vest in 2011, are contingent on “an assessment of safety and environmental sustainability,” according to BP’s last annual report. Yeah. Those aren’t going to vest.
• His salary last year was about $1.5 million, plus a $3 million bonus and $1 million in stock. He’s not likely to get a bonus this year, and based on what the Deepwater Horizon disaster has done to BP’s stock, his prior stock bonuses have taken a severe hit.
• Hayward’s 500,000 options are also worthless with the stock price of BP down 50 percent. They are set to expire in 2011 or 2012 — not necessarily far enough in the future for the stock to recover.
• Oh, yeah. And he gave a black eye to the entire planet Earth.
