Monday, April 7, 2014

Shed no tears for McKesson CEO Hammergren and his $61.1M salary

John Hammergren, the $114M man
'Millions by millions, CEO pay goes up,' blared a recent USA Today headline, and you knew who would be mentioned in the story: McKesson CEO (and union buster) John Hammergren.

Hammergren was given a jaw-dropping pay package last year, despite racking up nearly $1 billion in fines for price fixing and ripping off customers. At the time it was reported to be $51.7 million, with a pension of $159 million. Indignant shareholders objected, and Hammergren agreed to take a cut to $114 million.

Hammergren is still making so much money the company pays him an extra $17,000 for someone to count it all.

Meanwhile, workers at McKesson's Lakeland, Fla., warehouse don't earn enough to afford health care. They voted to join the Teamsters, but the company is threatening and harassing them in a by-the-book union-busting campaign.

USA Today rightly skewered CEOs who loot the companies they claw their way to the top of. Median pay for CEOs rose 13 percent to $10.5 million last year. Fifteen top executives took home more than $100 million.
No one should shed tears for Hammergren giving up $45 million in pension benefits. McKesson, a pharmaceutical products distributor, valued his 2013 compensation at $27.5 million and said he gained another $34.2 million from vested shares and exercising stock options.
That's $61.1  million. And no, we're not crying for John Hammergren.