Former Exxon CEO defends $150M pay package

[sabra]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/19/news/newsmakers/exxon_raymond.reut/?cnn=yes

Former Exxon CEO defends $150M pay package
Lee Raymond blasts critics of his retirement package, says oil industry will have its day of reckoning.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Never one to back away from confrontation while head of ExxonMobil Corp. for more than 13 years, Lee Raymond showed few signs of mellowing in retirement in his first public appearance following the controversy that erupted with the disclosure of his multimillion-dollar retirement package.

In a 90-minute talk at Columbia University on Tuesday evening, Raymond was unrepentant for any past decisions he had made and he blasted politicians, the U.S. car industry, Wall Street, environmentalists and other critics of the oil industry for what he said was their failure to understand the nature of the energy business, conceding only that he had been unsuccessful in getting his point of view across.

"People don't understand the time frame that we operate in. We operate in terms of 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-year cycles and to put that in context, that's 20 (U.S.) Congresses. A single quarter or a single year, which may mean everything from a political circus point of view, is not really all that significant in the time frame that we operate in," Raymond said.

...

"Back in 1998, when prices went down to $10 (per barrel), I don't recall anyone in Washington calling me up and saying 'what can we do to help.' But I didn't want them to be calling up. That's our job. We are in that business. It's our job to manage the risk. I am not interested in hearing from (politicians) when prices are at $10 and I am not interested in hearing from them when prices are at $40 or $50," he said.

[napi21]

1. So tell me Lee, did Exon loose money in 98?

Oh I remember all the whining and moaning, but I don't remember any losses being reported. I sure did notice that YOU got almost $1/2 Billion in pension and retirement bonuses and at the same time Exon posted the highest earnings of any company in the World! Now just how is that possible sir?????

[ArbustoBuster]

2. Let's run that through the Honesty Translator...

He's saying: "I had to rape the Earth and the American public for years to earn this blood money, and damn any of you who try to take it away from me!"

[n2doc]

3. a stuffed doll could have made money running exxxon

If oil had remained at $10 his whole tenure, and they had made the kind of money that they did, then sure. But frankly all Exxxon has done is minimal exploration, and let the bucks roll in as prices go higher. No one is worth $400 million unless they actually start the company or rebuild it. Raymond is just another greedy SOB using his company as an ATM on an almost unimaginable scale.

[napi21]

4. Oh I agree, but you have to remember the BOD had to OK it too!

As insane as I think that kind of bonus is, I can't REALLY fault the guy who it's offered to for accepting it. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity happen to me, but if someone did, I guess I'd first ask WHY?, but would I turn it down...I doubt it.

[n2doc]

15. They all serve on each others compensation boards

One had washes the other. And frankly, he should be publicly shamed for taking that kind of retirement bonus. Retirement packages as recently as the 80's were much smaller, even accounting for changes in inflation and profits. CEO's now just use their companies to make themselves ungodly rich. Where is Exxxon's renewable fuels program? Or carbon sequestration program? Or any other program that actually might benefit humanity or even work towards an renewable future instead of just f**ing maxing out their present day profit stream? All they have done is fight the global climate change community tooth and nail every step of the way.

[Thor_MN]

17. Corporate circle jerks. They should be outlawed.

There should be 6 degrees of separation between a corpoarate exec and anyone sitting on the board. No more CEO A sitting on Corp B's board and CEO B sitting on Corp A's board.

[Tanuki]

5. So Lee, are you going to tell us

what advice you gave Dick Cheney at the secret energy policy meetings at the beginning of the B*sh regime in early 2001?


(a picture of Lee Raymond)

[young_at_heart]

6. Those are some "jowls" he has there!

[shanti]

9. he's meeeeeelllllltinnnnnng!

;)

[Tanuki]

11. Once upon a time,

in a galaxy far, far away....


(Jabba the Hutt)

[mconvente]

14. If ever there was the portrait of a Robber Baron...

Lee Raymond is it - he is actually as fat as those from the political cartoons of the 1910s!

[mitchum]

7. Hey Lee..."Up against the wall, you fat fuck!"

[cornermouse]

8. This on top of outrageous gas prices could make a lot of people angry.

[adriennui]

10. the fat slob should

remember marie antoinette and mussolini, the public is getting restive.

[Zenlitened]

12. Wasn't it a $400 million package in early reports?

:shrug:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. $150 million?? It was more like HALF a billion dollars!! And this...

...wealthy, out-of-touch, fat cat is pissed because some of the lower 99% would dare to question that kind of retiremant package??

I seem to recall that a number of past revolutions were caused by this kind of imbalance of wealth.

[anotherdrew]

16. yep, CNN bending backwards to SPIN the story. LIERS! MEDIA WHORES!

boycott the shit on TV.

[pimpbot]

18. No, if you read the articles

They state he received something like 1/2 a billion in bonuses over the course of his 12 year employment. The retirement package he just got for retiring last year was $100 million or so. Someone did the math and it worked out that he made $140k per day over the course of his employment. Some Americans will be lucky to see that over their whole life.

[Blue_Tires]

19. jesus fucking christ he is a piece of SHIT

I hope for his sake he has a speedy escape plan out of the country when the time comes where the rest of us will have to eat the rich out of basic survival...

[jeffrey_X]

20. He blasted Wall Street? The very institution which lined his pockets?

I don't get it.

[DemoTex]

21. Remember ExxMob's 4Q 2005? Sequel is coming soon: 1Q 2006.

Second Quarter 2006 should be even better. Petrol at $3+/gal during the summer drive season should pu$h ExxMob's profits above $10 billion. A small few, like Lee "Jowls" Raymond, make out like bandits. Most suffer and the environment suffers. For example, no airline in this country can sustain operations with oil at $70/bbl. Airlines have cut costs and otherwise leaned operations to be marginally profitable at $50/bbl oil. Buh-bye Delta. Buh-bye US Airways. Buh-bye United. Buh-bye American. Buh-bye NWA. Buh-bye Southwest, Continental, and American (the Texas trilogy). Buh-bye JetBlue and AirTrans. While I'm at it, buh-bye GM and Ford. Buh-bye to the US middle-class and the elusive American Dream, too.

Meanwhile, under Bu$hco, profiteering is the rule .. not the exception. But who is surprised? ExxMob and Halliburton epitomize why Bu$h has sacrificed over 2378 US service men and women in Iraq.

Lee Raymond is attempting to defend the indefensible. Like Bu$h defending Rummy-the-Dummy. I wish Jowls would just crawl back into his cave and count his blood money. Know what I mean?

[Coventina]

22. I would say this guy is vermin....but that's an insult to vermin.

:puke: