Golden Parachutes of $100 Million for Fired CEOs Outlive Outrage

Corporate governance advocates and shareholder activists have long complained that chief executive officer pay, which has jumped by a third since 2007, is sometimes way out of line with the CEO’s on-the-job performance.

Severance packages for executives fired by their boards are often far bigger than those corner-office salaries. At least a dozen executives of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index stand to receive more than $100 million if they’re dismissed, according to a Bloomberg review of proxy data.