HP CEO Mark Hurd rewarded with a $40m severance after being forced to resign

[ShawnD1]

Hp can pay its CEO as much as it wants because if it can fail if it overpays. Not so for government. If government pays all its workers 1 million dollars, it can tax everyone else or print enough money and not end up failing.

Your logic makes perfect sense. Obama's wife took her kids and Schutzstaffel on vacation and occupied a shitload of hotel rooms, and this is a total outrage because it's all tax money. Piece of shit CEO is FIRED because he sucks and the company pays him 40 million, and you expect share holders to not be super pissed off right now?

 

[Pulsar]

Your logic makes perfect sense. Obama's wife took her kids and Schutzstaffel on vacation and occupied a shitload of hotel rooms, and this is a total outrage because it's all tax money. Piece of shit CEO is FIRED because he sucks and the company pays him 40 million, and you expect share holders to not be super pissed off right now?

Which brings up a very good question.

I understand the need for security, but my company doesn't pay to send me on vacation. I wonder, how much came out of the Obama's pockets versus ours for that little shindig?

 

[Hacp]

Your logic makes perfect sense. Obama's wife took her kids and Schutzstaffel on vacation and occupied a shitload of hotel rooms, and this is a total outrage because it's all tax money. Piece of shit CEO is FIRED because he sucks and the company pays him 40 million, and you expect share holders to not be super pissed off right now?

Shareholders can be pissed. But they can just move their money somewhere else. If taxpayers want to move their money they need to apply for citizenship somehwhere else. They might not even get approved. They're basically stuck funding Obama's trip to spain whether they like it or not. Shareholders can stop funding HP at any time.

 

[ShawnD1]

Shareholders can be pissed. But they can just move their money somewhere else. If taxpayers want to move their money they need to apply for citizenship somehwhere else. They might not even get approved. They're basically stuck funding Obama's trip to spain whether they like it or not. Shareholders can stop funding HP at any time.

The problem is that they all do it. It doesn't matter what company you invest in, there are always people at the top pulling the same shit politicians pull - they vote to give themselves raises and ridiculously high bonuses even when the company is losing money.

 

[Hacp]

The problem is that they all do it. It doesn't matter what company you invest in, there are always people at the top pulling the same shit politicians pull - they vote to give themselves raises and ridiculously high bonuses even when the company is losing money.

Put the money in CDs then. There are always alternative investments. The bottom line is that if the company makes a bad decision, it will need to pay with failure. Except if you're the UAW. Then you can cozy up with Obama and force hard working productive taxpayers to pay your pension for 30 years.

 

[CallMeJoe]

Put the money in CDs then. There are always alternative investments. The bottom line is that if the company makes a bad decision, it will need to pay with failure. Except if you're the UAW. Then you can cozy up with Obama and force hard working productive taxpayers to pay your pension for 30 years.

The UAW is not a company.

 

[1prophet]

Put the money in CDs then. There are always alternative investments. The bottom line is that if the company makes a bad decision, it will need to pay with failure. Except if you're the UAW. Then you can cozy up with Obama and force hard working productive taxpayers to pay your pension for 30 years.

Unless they are too big to fail like AIG.

 

[yllus]

Five easy steps to enlightenment on how this occurred:

1. HP's board of directors determined how much Mr. Hurd should be paid as CEO.

2. Mr. Hurd, along with being HP's CEO, was also the chairman of HP's board of directors from 2005 until 2010.

3. As such, Mr. Hurd had significant influence on who is appointed to and remained upon HP's board of directors.

4. Being on HP's board of directors pays something over $275,000 USD a year (source).

5. What reason could HP's board of directors possibly have to stay on Mr. Hurd's good side?

From what I can tell Mr. Hurd did a lot of good for the company, but let's not be silly - he didn't do $40 million of severance worth of good. I don't advocate hard salary limits or anything, but this is clearly excessive.

 

[Robor]

At least this guy actually helped improve HP. The place that laid me off six or seven years ago hired a new CEO who immediately moved headquarters from a building the company owned outright in Clearwater to one they rented in Boston. He also hired some jackass CIO who spent millions on an Oracle project that was doomed from the start but funded anyway. Less than two years later the CEO, CIO, and the rest of the cronies he hired were given their walking papers along with a severance package of a full year of pay. The rest of the people laid off got 1 week of pay per year worked CAPPED AT 8 WEEKS. Yeah, that's totally fair.

 

[Hacp]

At least this guy actually helped improve HP. The place that laid me off six or seven years ago hired a new CEO who immediately moved headquarters from a building the company owned outright in Clearwater to one they rented in Boston. He also hired some jackass CIO who spent millions on an Oracle project that was doomed from the start but funded anyway. Less than two years later the CEO, CIO, and the rest of the cronies he hired were given their walking papers along with a severance package of a full year of pay. The rest of the people laid off got 1 week of pay per year worked CAPPED AT 8 WEEKS. Yeah, that's totally fair.

The free market worked. The company picked the wrong CEO and it failed. What happens when this occurs with government? They raise taxes and continue wasting money.

Is the free market perfect? No its not perfect and its sad that you lost your job. But a company made a bad decision and got punished for it. Thats how it should work.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

It is completely screwed up. I don't begrudge a guy for making millions when his company is doing well, but I think you all need to step back and realize that he falsified expense reports, which would get anyone else canned with no warning, excuses, or severance.

That, and while he was making his fat bonuses, the rest of HP was on a raise freeze. I have friends who have worked there for several years and they haven't seen a raise in years. He was notorious for giving himself raises, etc. while the people who actually did the work got nothing. So he has no sympathy from me and I really thought that HP was going to try to deny him the severance based on his violating their code of business conduct. Too bad.

 

[ShawnD1]

4. Being on HP's board of directors pays something over $275,000 USD a year (source).
....

$40 million of severance

I wish I had a job like that. Regular salary is maybe $50,000 per year then when they decide to FIRE me, they give me an additional 7 million dollars (145x base salary).

 

[Robor]

The free market worked. The company picked the wrong CEO and it failed. What happens when this occurs with government? They raise taxes and continue wasting money.

Is the free market perfect? No its not perfect and its sad that you lost your job. But a company made a bad decision and got punished for it. Thats how it should work.

I'm sorry but 'the company' isn't anything more than the people it's made up of and the 100 or so people that lost their jobs lost them as a result of poor leadership. That same leadership was given six-digit severance packages while people who had decades of of service and no hand in bankrupting the company were given a max of 8 weeks. Some people had 25+ years. I had over 18.

Worse than that, the company that swallowed up that failed company is closing the local branch and moving the work to Mexico. There are 300 or so jobs going away. Yay free market! :\

 

[IndyColtsFan]

How much revenue did that CEO generate for HP?

Hmmm....
He made them #1 in notebooks
Had made them #1 in desktops
He increase their printer market share by 4% (46% ->50&#37

Really, so Hurd designed their products? He went out and sold them to companies? He was on the assembly line, making the products?

His employees made them number one. He set the strategy, but a strategy is nothing if people don't execute. Look, I don't care what HP pays Hurd, but I do think the severance was ridiculous given the offense he committed. He was "rewarded" enough with his huge bonuses and raises while the rest of HP was subject to wage freezes.

Sure sounds like he earned that money to me and this is an example of the disconnect the "progressives" have with capitalism and the disconnect they are trying to create when they play class warfare.

Here is how I see it. The fringe right lunatics in here think anyone making millions has "earned it" or "deserved it" through their "hard work" and that everyone else is just jealous. On the other hand, the fringe left lunatics in here think anyone making millions must be "greedy," "dishonest," and that they made their wealth through devious means. Both of these groups stick to their black and white views and never realize that there is a middle ground.

Hurd doesn't deserve his severance because of the performance of HP. He was already well compensated for that. This is merely HP throwing in the towel and not wanting to have a legal battle over his employment contract. That is what it boils down to here, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

From what I can tell Mr. Hurd did a lot of good for the company, but let's not be silly - he didn't do $40 million of severance worth of good. I don't advocate hard salary limits or anything, but this is clearly excessive.

Exactly. I support HP's right to pay whatever they want, but I also have a right to comment on it. Those people in here saying that he deserved the severance because of how HP performed are completely oblivious to the fact that Hurd was given huge CASH bonuses for their performance (he had the biggest bonus of ALL CEOs in 2008).

 

[JS80]

 

[Jhhnn]

Actually, the guy was greedy, stupid, and lazy. Given the nature of international banking and secrecy laws, he could have set it up to take care of his mistress with his own money and it would have taken a team of financial wizards in the FBI and Interpol to figure it out, if then. The truth is that nobody cared about him dipping his wick, just about how he paid for it, defrauding his employer. And there were probably other internal political reasons for his denouement, anyway.

CEO's of major American corporations are massively overpaid compared to their european counterparts, and yield no better results. and the whole thing about investors moving their money elsewhere sounds peachy, except when you consider that much of America's capital is controlled by pensions and 401K plans, where the stakeholders in those have very little say in where their hard earned money is actually invested...

Printers? HP and the rest basically sell printers at or below cost, just to get consumers hooked on their cartridges. Why do you think the original cartridges are only half full, if that?

It's kinda like the low introductory rate on an ARM...

 

[nobodyknows]

A private company decides to give its top employee a large severance payout vs a public government employee/politicians whose over inflated retirement plan comes at the cost of my tax dollars and that of everyone else.

Wait so how does this effect me compared to over blown government pension plans again?

Can you really be this stupid?

If a goverment employee got caught stealing do you think they would give him any retirement, let alone an extra large retirement? It's an upper management rip-off of both the corporations customers and their shareholders.

He vilolated the piblic trust and should go to jaill. Regular joes many times go to jail for much less.

 

[nobodyknows]

Then find another job at another company. Ain't it wonderful how the free market and capitalism works vs broad brush of government regulation. Hey maybe you could work for the government.

If the CEO didn't feel he was making enough and had to rip off the company then he should have found another job instead of being just another crooked ass punk.

Truth is he was just another greedy ass fucking elitist that thoght the he was so great the company couoldn't get by without him. Too bad, so sad. If things weren't so corupt at the upper levels this man would go to jail, but he probably has enough dirt on the rest of them they give him a big payoff to get the hell out and keep his firacking mouth shut.

 

[hal2kilo]

Can you really be this stupid?

If a goverment employee got caught stealing do you think they would give him any retirement, let alone an extra large retirement? It's an upper management rip-off of both the corporations customers and their shareholders.

He vilolated the piblic trust and should go to jaill. Regular joes many times go to jail for much less.

He confuses politicians with government employees. I can't help it if the people in the city of Bell, CA just woke up. They are not the rule, but the exception.

 

[nobodyknows]

You are wasting your time. You are never going to convince the pathetic bottom feeders, who are jealous of everyone who does well, that they are in control of how well off they are and will become. They don't even understand the concept of choice and that their choices determine their success. They always turn to government and anyone who thinks the government is the solution to their ills is a loser and destined to remain one.

I understand the concept of cheating and don't engage in it.

Apparently the upper echolons have become so used to cheating and lying that they have come to feel entitled to do so. Just like GWB and the rest of his "base" Fuck them all and the sooner we wise their asses up, the better off this country will be for it.

 

[Jhhnn]

Can you really be this stupid?

If a goverment employee got caught stealing do you think they would give him any retirement, let alone an extra large retirement? It's an upper management rip-off of both the corporations customers and their shareholders.

He vilolated the piblic trust and should go to jaill. Regular joes many times go to jail for much less.

Actually, pensions are administered in such a way that reasons for employment termination are immaterial, with few exceptions. The Denver Police Dept pension will terminate benefits if a retired officer is convicted of a felony, for example, but that's the exception to the rule. Accrued benefits belong to the former employee, even if they collect from a prison cell...

Employers already have enough incentive to discharge employees prior to retirement eligibility- it pushes the payoff date into the future, when the employee is 65, rather than after 20 years of service at age 55 or 60, which is quite common... Unscrupulous employers would go to extraordinary lengths if they could avoid paying entirely... very dishonest and extraordinary lengths...

 

[Craig234]

Really, so Hurd designed their products? He went out and sold them to companies? He was on the assembly line, making the products?

His employees made them number one. He set the strategy, but a strategy is nothing if people don't execute. Look, I don't care what HP pays Hurd, but I do think the severance was ridiculous given the offense he committed. He was "rewarded" enough with his huge bonuses and raises while the rest of HP was subject to wage freezes.



Here is how I see it. The fringe right lunatics in here think anyone making millions has "earned it" or "deserved it" through their "hard work" and that everyone else is just jealous. On the other hand, the fringe left lunatics in here think anyone making millions must be "greedy," "dishonest," and that they made their wealth through devious means. Both of these groups stick to their black and white views and never realize that there is a middle ground.

Except that's not how 'the fringe left lunatics', your wrong label for some here, see it.

You have a 'centrist bias' leading you to distort and exaggerate to justify your position.

Would it make you not sleep tonight if you and the 'left' agreed on something, because you are locked in to 'identity politics' that you just have to see any as 'fringe lunatics'?

In fact, my informed opinion on the matter is that all kinds of people make a lot of money 'deserve it', for a variety of reasons. I want them making 'big money'.

There are limits on how little taxes they should pay, and how unaccountable they should be, however.

Hurd doesn't deserve his severance because of the performance of HP. He was already well compensated for that. This is merely HP throwing in the towel and not wanting to have a legal battle over his employment contract. That is what it boils down to here, nothing more, nothing less.

You have to invent some 'far left' who wants all CEO's paid minimum wage and then sent to prison for eating babies, because of your own bias, it seems.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

It may be legal for the HP CEO to walk away with severance because it was voted on by the Board of Directors. But it isn't fair, considering he was charged with impropriety AND his severance will be more than his salary than in 2008 and 2009 even factoring bonuses. I don't believe, free market or not, that someone should gets compensation + a generous severance just because the person was smart enough to walk away before getting fired due to alleged impropriety.

It should be simple: if you are charged with impropriety and get fired, you don't get any severance. if you're charged and voluntarily resign, you should get no more than a few million in severance.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

You have to invent some 'far left' who wants all CEO's paid minimum wage and then sent to prison for eating babies, because of your own bias, it seems.

I must have hit a nerve, eh Craig? If anyone here plays identity politics, it would be you. Nearly every post from you seems to be an us ("progressives") against them (Republicans and "corporatist" Democrats).

Insults aside, I suspect that my views on CEOs and their compensation might be left of center, but I don't have those views due to allegiance to any particular political party. I have those views based on personal experience and what I see as wrongs they've committed and will hurt our country.

I do have the advantage of having lived through several mergers and acquisitions and seeing the results of their tomfoolery myself. I also happen to believe in the philosophy of sharing the wealth with those who do the work -- it is hard for me to rationalize executives making millions while their employees are getting no raises, being laid off, and in many cases, their company was tanking. Obviously, Hurd did good things for HP -- I won't deny that. But the usual puppets in here saying he deserves this huge severance because of his performance there is absolute hogwash. Hurd got a $24 million cash bonus in 2008 (that doesn't include bonus stock options) and another cash bonus of $15 million in 2009. That was his compensation for performing well at HP.

Furthermore, ignoring all of the above, I am, like most people, a shareholder of many of these companies through my 403b plan. As a shareholder, it pisses me off.