(Wheeler and) Dealer's Choice

Supermerger experts such as Pete Correll, John Eyler, Bruce Hammonds and James Kilts received packages approaching and, in some cases exceeding, $100 million. The question becomes, good value for the money or extravagance for the sake of extravagance? Many, including a former director of Gillette, see the megapayments as obscene; others consider this a cost of getting a merger done.

Much of what was included in this article probably was familiar to www.footnoted.org readers. Certainly, at this level of dollars, shareholders, employees and others deserve a board of directors which is heavily scrutinizing any deals made to assure that the deal is in the best interest of shareholders and other stakeholders and not just the executive team.