Market Folly

10 Highest Paid CEOs for 2008: Unbelievable

sorry, sentence edit: "Heck, if they outperformed they probably would have *earned even* more."

10 Highest Paid CEOs for 2008: Unbelievable

Appreciate all the insightful comments here, great to get a discussion going and think this topic will continue to be addressed going forwards. I want to set the record straight that I by no means am against capitalism. Yes, the article may slightly *seem* that way simply because I feel they've been overcompensated when they have underperformed. Those of you have brought up professional athletes bring up a great example. Indeed, there should not be a limit to how much you earn in a capitalist society... there should be no cap.

I'm merely presenting a scenario whereby we should consider other alternative pay scales, truly based on performance. Those CEO's were going to get the same amount pretty much regardless if they did poorly or not. Heck, if they outperformed they probably would have done more. I was just proposing that we move to a more performance based program where their salary is dependent on if they outperform or not, how they do for shareholders, and whether they have been embodying the values of the company. I'm by no means saying I think they should be judged solely on their stock performance.... that's not the case at all. I personally don't have the solution but wanted to lay out a scenario in which shareholders can judge CEOs and their pay on numerous criterion; offering both short-term and (more importantly) long-term incentives. Right now the boards have too much control and the shareholders too little. That's all I'm trying to say here, sorry if it had anti-capitalistic tones... that wasn't my intention.

Great insights everyone, appreciate them.

10 Highest Paid CEOs for 2008: Unbelievable

Please note that we did indeed note that we thought McClendon was one of the top managers in the country as he has performed well over the long-term. We're merely highlighting the fact that he was bailed out for his pain caused by CHK stock. Were CHK shareholders bailed out for their pain? Nope. That's all we're trying to point out as unfair.

That being said, he (like practically everyone on the list) is overcompensated. No one deserves that much money. Think about it for a second, what can you do with all that money? It's almost absurd. People live comfortably and lavishly for much less than that. If they exceed expectations by a longshot then maybe, just maybe they deserve ridiculous sums of money. But, at the same time, money like that could be used to fix the business, return to shareholders, etc.

Commenter 'Gravity' has it right where the boards are to blame for the ridiculously high pay packages. It's all a big 'clique' at the top of these organizations.. everyone at the top is looking out for each other and this buddy-buddy mentality needs to change. No one is going to step up and desire change because they're scared they'll be ousted from the clique.

We're merely trying to highlight the issue that changes need to be made and a performance based incentive program needs to be initiated.

Hedge Fund Portfolio Tracking: Citadel Investment Group (Ken Griffin), Q3 2008

thanks granger, glad you enjoy them.

Hedge Fund Portfolio Tracking: Citadel Investment Group (Ken Griffin), Q3 2008

To commenter "All Idiots,"

Um, are you serious? The positions are taken directly off of the 13F filing made by Citadel with the SEC. Can be found by searching their EDGAR database at sec.gov

Hedge funds with more than $100 million under management are required to disclose positions once each quarter.

Hedge Fund Portfolio Tracking: Citadel Investment Group (Ken Griffin), Q3 2008

Steal,

Thanks, glad you've found it helpful.

Hedge Fund Tracking: Touradji Capital (Paul Touradji), Q3 2008

bc818 you have to keep in mind that its not necessarily all losses... they have sold off quite a substantial amount of equities. since this is the long side of their equity portfolio, they were removing a lot of longs. so think of it as potential losses combined with decreasing long equity exposure.