tony hayward

How BP's Tony Hayward Got Shortchanged

Filed under: Wealth, Crimes and Misdemeanors

On July 26 my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported that ousted BP CEO Tony Hayward (right), who become the target of international ire after the company failed to contain the massive Gulf oil spill, will walk away with $1.5 million in salary and benefits plus a pension worth over $17 million, for a total of cashout of $18.5 million.

That may seem like a lot of money for someone who oversaw the worst ecological disaster in recent history and watched his company's fortunes plummet – but in fact Hayward's "golden parachute" is pretty damned paltry compared to other recently ousted CEO's payouts, the Economist points out.

For instance, Hayward's kiss-off is a whopping $191.5 million less than the $210 million received by Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli in 2007, who departed the company after its share price plunged. After the jump you'll find the newspaper's selected ranking of CEO payouts, showing Hayward languishing in last place. So don't be too hard on the guy - compared to his other former CEO pals he's practically penniless and they're probably all making fun of him at the club:

Tags: BP, business, CEO, CEOs, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, oil spill, Tony Hayward, wealth

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Tony Hayward's Golden Parachute

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

They may be sending BP CEO Tony Hayward off to Russia but he'll be leaving with quite the golden parachute. Today there was widespread speculation that Hayward, who become the target of national ire after BP floundered to contain the massive Gulf oil spill, will step down as chief executive of the company in October. Various outlets have reported that he will take a job with company's joint venture in Russia. Shipped off to Russia in ignominy? That's rough. But let's not feel too bad for the yacht-owning executive, BBC News says that he could receive an immediate annual pension worth about £600,000 ($930,000) when he leaves his post.

The rules of BP's pension plan say that anyone who joined the company before April 2006 can take the pension at any point from age 50 and Hayward is 53 so he's off and spending if he chooses. He's also set to get a year's salary plus benefits worth more than £1 million (over $1.55 million). His total pension is valued at around £11 million (over $17 million) and he will keep his rights to shares that, depending on whether or not BP bounces back in the stock market, could also be worth millions. Hayward became the chief executive in 2007 and has been criticized for being to slow to take action on issues of safety. His statement in an interview that he "just wanted his life back" angered those whose lives were devastated by the spill. His colleague Bob Dudley is set to replace him. Dudley grew up in Mississippi and is reputed to be a safety-minded straight arrow.

Tags: gulf oil spill, Tony Hayward

Tony Hayward's Yacht To Race In Irish Regatta

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

BP chief executive Tony Hayward seems to have learned his lesson about yacht excursions. His luxury sailing yacht "Bob" will be racing again next week, at the Cork Week regatta in southern Ireland but a spokesman for BP told the Daily Telegraph that Hayward won't be on the yacht or in Cork. Hayward shares the yacht with Sam Laidlaw, the chief executive of Centrica, and Rob Gray, of Deutsche Bank. Cork Week runs from July 10 through July 16 and features a variety of races and other events.

Tags: cork week, regatta, tony hayward, tony hayward yacht race