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Equifax CEO Richard Smith Who Oversaw Breach To Collect $90 Million (fortune.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The CEO of Equifax is retiring from the credit reporting bureau with a pay day worth as much as $90 million -- or roughly 63 cents for every customer whose data was potentially exposed in its recent security breach. Richard Smith, 57, is the third Equifax executive to retire under pressure following the company's massive data breach revealed earlier this month, putting the personal information of as many as 143 million people at risk. Equifax said Tuesday that as a condition of Smith's retirement, he "irrevocably" forfeits any right to a bonus in 2017, an amount that under normal circumstances would have totaled more than $3 million -- the bonus he received in 2016 -- according to the company's retirement policy. But the CEO is still set to collect about $72 million this year alone (including nine months' worth of his $1,450,000 salary), plus another $17.9 million over the next few years. That's when the rest of Smith's stock compensation hits a few important milestones or "vests," allowing Smith to essentially put it in his bank account. Altogether, it adds up to a total potential paycheck of more than $90.1 million, according to Fortune's calculations based on Equifax securities filings.
The stock is recovering nicely. This would probably be a good time to invest as it is selling at about a 40% discount.
Imagine if someone get his details, pretends to be him and steals it all. While that would be very very naughty I fear I might laugh a little bit.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
This is exactly why these breaches occur and will continue to occur. When there is no penalty for incompetence and the worst that can happen to you is that you get to "retire" with a huge payout, then there is zero incentive to actually run your business properly.
Not saying his transactions are or aren't overtly suspicious, but significant profits amidst potentially massive losses for so many make one look like a complete douche.
But that's the gag with totally royal douchebags . . . they don't really care if they look like one.
See Darl McBride for an excellent example. If Microsoft pays you a pile of cash in the Cayman Islands, what do you care what other folks think of you . . . ?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I don't think there is a business case for CEOs, obviously they don't benefit shareholders in a long term. The CEO position should be eliminated in favor of inside-track promoted Director drawing a salary tied to a fixed multiplier of average worker's salary. No pension or retirement contributions and no stock options.
We need to get away from bonus and stock manipulation culture that creates direct incentives to CEOs that conflict with long-term shareholder interests.
a 90% marginal tax rate on income over $1 million a year (note, that's _marginal_, meaning you don't pay it until you hit that threshold, before that you're paying the same as folks in the lower brackets).
The 1%ers take care of each other and make sure that wealth accumulates at the top. Then that wealth is turned into power so they can get away with stuff like this. Money is power and we've let about 20,000 people have nearly all that power because we're not comfortable with taking it away from them. This stuff is gonna keep happening until we do.
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It's cheaper than keeping him.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
The latest Red Scare is just a big nothing burger.
It's ironic that posts about Russian hacking are being done by a bot. This is the third identical post I have seen here today. So rather than being a "nothing burger" these posts indicate that the very interference they are trying to play down is in fact still ongoing.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
Of course, he already supervised the posting of his personal information along with everybody else's.
It is amazing (not) to me that the board will let this happen. If his contract gives him this cash regardless of competence, then the board made a poor contract. If the contract requires competence for compensation, the the board should not give out the cash.
Come on, man. You know this works. It's a club where they all pay each other.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
Claw back the bonuses for the last several years.
If the stock tanks, he should not get any benefits!
This is what I call a Perfect Failure - an incident, which in spite of being considered a failure by all parties involved, still leaves the party responsible better off than they were before.
From the perspective of the CEO, the "failure" was purely cosmetic. If only I could collect $90 million when I made a mistake..
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Laugh a little bit? More like offer praise to the perp.
These guys belong in jail and all their ill-gotten gains taken from them
I wonder who their advisers are....? Anyone got a number?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
A bank head was just sentenced to death for a fraud involving less money than this guy's payout. "Dozens" of former employees of the bank have received long jail terms.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...
Now on the one hand, while Vietnam is on one of its periodic anti-corruption sweeps, this is mostly about the guy being a political opponent.
But, really, it's the very idea of the senior officials of a bank showing up in a criminal court at ALL, receiving jail time at ALL (rather than the bank paying a highly-affordable fine) that's the remarkable sight, here. Western culture can offer no comparable example.
... roughly 63 cents for every customer whose data was potentially exposed in its recent security breach.
A customer is someone who purchases a commodity or service. The vast majority of those put at risk by Equifax's fuckup were in no way "customers". Unless they were capable of purchasing EVERYTHING using cash, or opting out of mainstream society and living off the grid altogether, they had no true choice in the matter of whether or not their personal data was under Equifax care. Calling them customers implies that they were partly responsible for their misfortune because in having chosen to deal with an irresponsible vendor; the fact is that they are simply victims of a too-powerful company's careless disregard for its responsibilities and obligations.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
What are you talking about? It's not like he is Osama Bin Laden for God's sake. He's yet another corporate white dude that probably only 100 people in America could pick out of a photo array right now.
This is Normal Shit.
Beware of the Leopard.
Since it's likely that $90 mil is linked to the stock price of Equifax, a concerted effort to erode the stock value of the company seems to be in order. Cost the shareholders that supported such a shoddy corporate culture to allow such a breach.