The New York Times has an article on the $140 Million compensation package for Richard Grasso which caught my eye. The compensation package is for his 36 years of service and the majority of it is retirement benefits and deferred compensation. As expected, there is a lot of controversy around his package given that the NYSE earned $28.1 Million in 2002 according to an article in Yahoo.

Of course, Richard Grasso has done a great job of running NYSE, especially through incredibly challenging times such as 9/11 and the recent blackout. There is also no doubt as to the performance of the NYSE with its current capitalization of $14.8 Trillion, especially when you compare the NYSE to NASDAQ which has had its own share of challenges and blunders as outlined in Business Week.

However, you have to wonder if $140 Million is really justified. Yes, it is something that has accumulated over 20+ years in his role as Executive Vice President and Chairman (at a generous 8% interest), but I don't think that it's in line with his contributions and role in running NYSE. As the article points out, this is an entrepreneurs fortune gained at no risk. Also, when you compare him to his peers in other quasi-public organizations it's definitely not in line, and when you look at the board that was responsible for setting his compensation package, it's all filled with industry insiders. Now it looks like that's being changed with an entirely new board and his new package sounds much more reasonable.

Btw, did I mention that it was $140 Million in CASH?