As the Chronicle’s James Temple reported earlier this month, it’s sayonara for most of Wachovia’s top executives when Wells Fargo’s takeover is complete, around Christmas time. He also noted that golden parachutes will be billowing all over Charlotte, N.C., where Wachovia is based.
Now we have hard numbers. According to an SEC filing, the failing bank’s top 10 executives will be eligible for a total of $98.1 million in severance pay. At last report, two of those executives are moving over to Wells, so the actual tab will be a little smaller. CEO Bob Steel and chairman Lanty Smith aren’t eligible for severance, but not to worry. They get to reap $2.5 million in stock based rewards as a going away present…
Wells Fargo already received $25 billion from the taxpayers under the Federal Reserve’s TARP program, part of the $700 billion bailout, approved by our heroic representatives in Congress. They, along with other banks, will have enough money available for many more of these games.
In fact, since they are “too big to fail”, they will most likely receive much more. And rightfully so. Now is really the time for the tax paying workers in this country to cut back and give those ailing executives a well deserved break for a job well done…
…Wachovia lost $33 billion in the last two quarters.