All in a Day's Work

Thank God for the Republicans... they are the only sensible party that knows that we have to incentivize the rich. These big earners are the only people who really know how to put in a day's work. Everybody else is a slackard. But at least when you get the "incentive" right for the rich, they can put their nose to the grindstone. And this Republican strategy it is paying off. Here's the good news from Barry Ritholtz:

Blackstone CEO “Earns” $702 million

by Barry Ritholtz

Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman, a founder of the company, is cashing out.

This years lucre — $700 million, plus some minor salary — is the first of 5 equal payments that will net him a cool $4.7 billion dollars. Nice work if you can get it.

All I can say for sure is this represents a massive transfer of wealth from Shareholders to management.

Bloomberg excerpt:

“Blackstone Group LP Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman was the highest-paid executive in the U.S. last year as his compensation topped $702 million, the Corporate Library reported.

The package for Schwarzman included $2.3 million of compensation and almost $699.8 million from the vesting of one- quarter of the equity granted as he took the firm public at $31 a share in 2007, said the Portland, Maine-based Corporate Library. Schwarzman, Blackstone’s founder, was granted $4.7 billion in equity at the time of the offering, said the Corporate Library, which specializes in governance issues. . .”

Given that another 75% of a 2007 equity grant that totaled $4.7 billion remains to be paid out. It will vest in 4 equal installments over the next four years. “It is reasonably safe to assume that Mr. Schwarzman will remain at the top of highest paid CEOs list, or close to it, for a few years to come,” the report said.

Safe to assume? I don’ t know if I would take that bet . . .

You know... it is really hard to get good help these days. I remember when a million dollars would get most executives to put in a solid 4 hour work day. But these days, with all the riffraff making tens of millions, it takes some serious billions to get the attention of the really top notch executives. Pity!