Want to make millions? Run a bankrupt company!
As if former Compaq CEO Michael Capellas' compensation package for leading Worldcom out of bankruptcy wasn't high enough, this New York Times story (registration required) reports on an even bigger pay out package (without the long term value that Capellas' compensation was tied to) being promised to two AT&T Broadband execs being wooed by Adelphia:
If the terms of the employment contracts are approved at a board meeting today, Adelphia could wind up paying almost $65 million over two years to the two men, William T. Schleyer and Ronald Cooper. Mr. Schleyer's package alone could be worth nearly twice the $20 million over three years that was recently awarded to Michael D. Capellas, the new chief executive of WorldCom, which entered bankruptcy listing assets four times those of Adelphia when it collapsed.
The Adelphia contracts underline the increasingly rich payouts being awarded to executives who agree to run bankrupt companies. But the structure of the compensation requested by Mr. Schleyer and Mr. Cooper is also remarkable in several ways, according to Brian Foley, a compensation consultant based in White Plains.