$21,000 an hour, at your expense

[Omaha Steve]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/A21000DollarAnHourJob.aspx

New rules have lifted the veil on how big companies reward their part-time board members. The average pay is nearly $200,000 a year, and an elite group earns $1 million or more.

By Michael Brush

How would you like to earn $21,000 an hour for a part-time job?

In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, 85 corporate directors took home more than $1 million, according to analysis by The Corporate Library, a corporate-governance research firm. They typically get this juicy pay for attending about 10 meetings a year, joining in on some conference calls and sometimes consulting on projects.

Many members of this elite group are founders or former executives, or serve as chairmen of the board, and some argue they deserve those checks.

Board members are supposed to represent shareholders' interests in guiding a company. Instead, as the numbers show, they're often enriching themselves at shareholders' expense.
'A dream job for any American'
Take real-estate magnate Sam Zell, who ranks 158th on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires. He's worth an estimated $5 billion.

Thanks to his part-time position as chairman of the board at Equity Residential (EQR, news, msgs), an apartment-building developer that he helped found, Zell continues to accumulate wealth. In 2006, Equity Residential rewarded Zell with $3.2 million worth of options and restricted stock.

The Equity Residential board held nine meetings that year. Assuming they were full-day meetings and throwing in a few weeks for prep time, Zell earned about $21,000 per hour for this position. That's a well-paid gig even as chairmanships go. Directors at Fortune 500 firms who were also chairmen got a median of $288,000 in 2006, according to Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm. That was more than five times the median income that U.S. households brought home that year.

FULL story at link.

[aquart]

1. I think I could live on that.

[7 of 11]

2. Kinda reminds mehow

Edwards made 13 million suing people. And he wasn't even the plaintiff.. Makes me kinda wonder!

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Which means, what he collected for winning lawsuits against

irresponsible, greedy corporations



would never even be missed by them.




You do know that in this scenario HE WEARS THE WHITE HAT.

[Omaha Steve]

4. Now the parents of a girl whose case that he handled joined Edwards on the trail

Great angle. Thanks for reminding me he does fight for the poor and downtrodden.

[girl gone mad]

5. Your'e right, he gets results.

Exactly why he would be an effective leader.