Dick Clark has so-so year but laughs as he cashes in

I had a great year and went up less than 2%! He has a shit year and goes up by over 50%. And another article I read said Merck stock was down 1% in 2010 while S&P was up 12%. They don't call him Tricky Dicky for nothing.

Merck Ex-CEO, Current Chairman Clark's Pay Rose 55% In 2010


DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Total pay for Merck & Co.'s (MRK) Chairman Richard T. Clark jumped 55% to $ 24.6 million in 2010 while he was still serving as chief executive, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Clark, who has been chairman since 2007, was succeeded by company veteran Kenneth C. Frazier as CEO at the beginning of this year, a move widely expected since April 2010 when Frazier was named president. Clark was required to step down from the CEO post by last month, when he turned 65, under the company's mandatory-retirement policy. He had been CEO since 2005.

Clark's base salary increased 3.5%, while his stock and option awards, and nonequity incentive plan compensation also grew. The figure was also above the $ 22.3 million Clark made in 2008.

Frazier, who had served as executive vice president and president of global human health until May 2010, saw his total pay rise 88% to $9.4 million. He especially benefited from larger stock awards.

The total pay for Chief Financial Officer Peter N. Kellogg, meanwhile, climbed 72% to $6.1 million.

Merck, which reports its first-quarter results on April 29, continues to integrate its $41 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough from November 2009, which has included cost reductions and cutting 15% of its global work force. It and other drug makers are facing a number of pressures, including heightened scrutiny of drug safety, government probes of sales and marketing practices and greater pricing pressure from generic competition.

Shares closed up 1.2% to $33.86 on Thursday and were inactive after hours.

-By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480; john.kell@dowjones.com

--Peter Loftus contributed to this report.


(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-14-111913ET
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

 

In the court of Henry VIII, they always paid the Executioner with gold coins to assure a "clean cut"......off with their heads!!!!!

 

Well if I had the power, I'd have PiP'd the sob even though millions of dollars tends to diminish the significance of one.

 

fu aholes I earned it the hard way by buying scheering and fixing all the weak links

 

...and now, so good to see that Ken will continue in the grand tradition and perhaps surpass his predecessor...

 

These scumbag executives are obviously not held accountable, yet they're given the power to make flippant decisions that destroy families.

This company is doomed.

 

Unlike those visionary CEOs from a few decades ago, Dick is not a scientist nor very charismatic on stage. But he is willing to do the bloodletting and is awarded accordingly. Such is life.

 

Just curious, what does he do with his money? He doesn't seem to live large. Does he ever donate it to any charity?

 

Check out the link below about an article entitled, Amazed at Merck CEO's 24m Pay Packet? Wait 'Til You See His Pension. Little Dick get exposed for how much money he has stolen from Merck. In the article, there are comments by a Merck's spokesperson trying to defend Dick but the spokesperson can't keep his/her lies straight and contradicts themselves.





http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/amazed-at-merck-ceo-8217s-24m-pay-packet-wait-8216til-you-see-his-pension/7992

 

We must always remember that Merck's salary/bonus programs are instituted for the sole purpose of attracting and retaining the absolute best and brightest idividuals. Otherwise, Merck will cease to be competitive and the best and brightest will look elsewhere. No one can argue with the acumen of Dick Clark and his record at Merck. He and he alone brought Merck back from the precipice of irrelevance.

 

So that is why the stock continues to be lower than it was just a few years ago. Right Dick?

 

The best and the brightest are certainly not at Merck...otherwise, there would have been no need to buy SP, and there would be a well-oiled pipeline in place. Merck is not relevant. So, Dicky, like so many CEO's these days, is a bandit.

 

Those CEOs are necessary components in the Class (Cold) War that middle-class (LOL) America refuses to believe is being waged. They are the new slave owners if you like. The middle class has its hands fixed to their TV remotes and their heads stuffed up their respective asses. And guess what sort of "working" class those outrageously paid CEOs are in are in and consider what class you are in. And are they seriously ever afraid of being part of a cost-savings layoff? And you ever not afraid of that same program? Bring some sense back to the work environment and start by maxing out some of these clown's pay. Working for someone that you judge in all respects to be your colleague rather than your enemy might actually prove inspiring to all the employees.

 

...hope he gets shingles because his private physician couldn't even get Zostavax because of the manufacturing problems that happened on his watch as CEO and as head of manufacturing.

 

Hey, I mostly agree with you. But we must get a BOD that won't be afraid to pay people what they are worth instead of what they think they are worth. Big difference and this will require a quantum shift in compensatory thinking by the board. Dick Clark IS worth whatever Merck is currently paying him. What IS Ken Frazier going to be worth? Whatever they pay him....

 

so in the race to the bottom, who is the worst CEO? Gilmartin, Clark, and what the hell throw in the lawyer- Frazier.

 

We used to have CEOs that you could feel their aura when they walked onto the stage. Or they truly spoke with vision and knowledge. For example, R. Vagelos MD. Now we have bunch of backstabbing dough buy looking men and women with Napoleon Complex that speak hauntingly and in such a fake and hollow way.

P.S. I am unloading my last 1500 shares of Merck stocks this week. No more Merck stocks!

 

If it's any consolation, Merck is not the first company to have lost their way, their reputation, and their culture. There are many of us who hold fast to our memories of what Merck used to be as that is all we have left to take pride in. That is the only thing that can still make us feel good about Merck. I honestly don't believe any of us with significant Merck experience and memories regards the current company as Merck. This unfortunately seems to be the norm throughout corporate America. I hear many in the 50+ age range who have invested years with their employers lamenting how their companies have changed for the worse and barely resemble what they once were. That is something I readily can identify with.

 

As late as 1990, Merck still had culture and organization that was reminescent of the original family-owned, named, and operated business. But even then it was fading fast. A family-owned business is usually far less concerned with short-term issues as they are interested in stengthening for the long-term. Many of them feel a sense of shame when the finances become so feeble that layoffs are even considered. And when they do, they try to make the sacrifices equitable. The last thing that they would encourage would be a buyout by someone that shares none of their values. The modern CEO neither has or is motivated to have such values. In fact, the very best thing that can happen to the typical CEO is a buy-out. So many of these guys have invested precious little in the company and certainly would not stand firm during real duress. Ironically, Merck traded in its values to appeal to Wall Street. How long did that love affair last? It is exactly this owner-operator ethic that is behind why small pharma seems to be proportionately more productive in its pipelines than is big pharma. In big pharma, the greed at the top contaminates the entire enterprise and institutionalizes cynicism. George Merck would shit a brick if he knew that an ant like Dick Clark actually was placed in charge of his family's company.

 

Merck and all of corporate America is a microcosm of society. Those of us who are 50+ know that we live in very different times compared to when we were growing up. Advances in technology for one thing have turned our lives upside down---in some good, but also, unfortunately, in some very bad ways. We've become inhuman with the internet, texting and social networks--everyone addicted to computers and cell phones, which have replaced live interaction. Our values and morals have disintegrated...it's "everyone for himself" and there are no rules, no conscience. We see this at every level of society. Sadly, I don't see society becoming better....only worse, considering the economic challenges ahead of us, and a government that is corrupt, wasteful and completely misguided and ineffective.