Jumbo Severance Packages for Top CEOs Are Growing

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 a top executive’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.

The potential payouts show that golden parachutes live on—even after the uproar over Jack Welch’s $417 million farewell kiss from General Electric more than a decade ago. At the top of the list compiled by Bloomberg are three executives who each would receive almost a quarter of a billion dollars or more if they were sent packing: McKesson CEO John Hammergren, eligible for $303.4 million; CBS CEO Les Moonves, with $251.4 million; and Discovery Communications’ David Zaslav, with $224.7 million.