Pay Raise for Some, But Not for All
Good news for senior execs at bailed-out banks and auto companies. While Treasury Department "pay czar" Ken Feinberg announced last week that he was slashing overall compensation at the companies under his control, he's since decided to raise base salaries. Why? Because the banks complained, of course, which prompted Feinberg to re-review the matter.
On average, base salaries climbed to $437,896 a year as a result of Mr. Feinberg's review, compared with $383,409 previously, a 14% increase, according to a Journal analysis of Treasury data. Of the 136 employees under Mr. Feinberg's review, 89 saw their base salaries increase.
At Citigroup, which is 34%-owned by the U.S. government, Mr. Feinberg agreed to more than double salaries for 13 of the 21 employees, according to the Journal's analysis.
Sadly, one of the Citi employees who won't be seeing a pay bump is employee #100001, otherwise known as Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. He won't be seeing anything come his way in 2009, in fact.
Of course Pandit did collect $10.8 million last year so he isn't exactly in the poorhouse. And he did get to spend part of this week in lovely Sioux Falls, South Dakota, so he sure better not be complaining.
Pay Czar Increased Base Pay at Firms [WSJ]
'Hold us, Citi, responsible' for economy [Argus Leader]
