This is yet again another example of what is wrong with GE and its Corporate Country Club Culture for executives! Go check your pension, is it worth >10X of your yearly salary? This is why the Supplemental Pension Plan (SPP) should be eliminated. Also people taking early retirements or getting laid off are not get 2x their base pay! What message does this send to the GE Team???!!
GE executives are great and worth more salary and bonuses than the average working folks, but their severance and pensions should be prorated just everyone else’s, not amplified. Eliminating the SPP would also help with the GE Pension debt.
• General Electric (NYSE:GE) will pay former CEO John Flannery $4.25M cash severance (>2x his base salary) over the next 12 months and let him keep stock awards that could add up to several million dollars depending on GE’s performance.
• The former CEO also will receive a pension accumulated over more than 30 years at the company that was valued at $23.6M (>10x his base salary) at the end of last year, according to an SEC filing.
• GE says Flannery's outstanding stock options and restricted stock units granted before September 2017 and that would have vested through December 2020 "will vest as soon as practicable."
• At the end of last year, those awards were worth $4M but currently are worth closer to $1.4M at yesterday’s closing share price of ~$9.29 a share; options would be exercisable through 2020, meaning they could recover some value if GE’s share price improves.
Now read: GE: Challenges Continue »
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3404941-former-ge-ceo-flannery-collect-4_25m-severance