The analysis is biased ,dimwitted and typical of the socialist thinking in most of the liberal press. His compensation is not out of line taking in cosideration the relative performance of the company and the scale of the enterprise.This same thinking leads these socialists to also think that Walmart is bad for America.

Excellent, Exxon is one of the best company in the world and there is nothing wrong with Mr. Raymond's retirement package.

i don't understand why he is overpaid. he was obviously a very successful CEO. people are so up in arms about the price they pay at the pump but no one ever acknowledges how well run these big oil companies are. he pu up incredible numbers and deserves to be compensated accordingly.

I am an ExxonMobil Stockholder and I don't care how much Mr. Raymond gets, but I do care that they have not raised the dividend even though they are making record breaking gazillions. Do you think that you could get an answer to my question, I'd like to see the dividend go up a few pennies at least by the first quarter of 2007.

By definition, the CEO of a company is an EMPLOYEE OF THE COMPANY -- not an owner. As an employee, he is entitled to a good salary, with all the benefits. But again, the company is not one of HIS ASSETS (except for the shares he may own). And the income of the company is not his to appropriate!

Look for ExxonMobile to split their stock 2 for 1
in 2007. This has been Exxon's pattern (every
time the stock hits $ 80/share they split 2 for 1).

Lee Raymond left a legacy that goes far beyond CEO pay inflation. He was the mastermind behind Exxon's refusal to invest in renewable energy and funding of think tanks and front groups that confuse the public on global warming. Lee handpicked his board of directors, so it's really no surprise that he got the $400 million golden parachute he did. Workers and shareholders alike argue that Raymond didn't deserve the record pay out since he didn't take over a down and out company and raise it to stardom, he simply didn't run a profitable company into the ground. Shareholders won't likely be smiling in the long-term if Raymond's legacy continues to prevent the company from diversifying its investment portfolio into renewable energy and obtaining the technical know-how necessary to compete in a radically reduced carbon-dependent world.

I agree with others who say EOM dividends are rediculous. Its okay by me that Lee Raymond has a incredible income, but EOM needs to take of its stockholders, now!

Why is there no mention made of oil producing companies which do not pay their executives as much as Exxon does, but which sell oil at the same price Exxon does? Do those companies, unburdened with high executive remuneration not make more money than does Exxon per gallon of oil or gasoline sold?

Only a died-in-the-wool Socialist would limit the ability of stockholders in a private company to pay its executives whatever they want to pay. It is their money that is being used to pay the executives, just as it is the stockholders' money which is used to pay the typical US employee more wages than employees in other countries earn for doing the same work .

If Exxon paid its wage-earning employees less money, there would be room for them to charge consumers lower prices for their product. Perhaps Exxon should think about moving some of its jobs out of the US to places where lower wages prevail. It could then market its product at lower prices so that US consumers would have the benefit of lower gas and oil prices.

Come on now, Lee Raymond was after all an EMPLOYEE and as such earned a very lucrative income. He did NOT EARN the disgusting amount awarded him by the crooks he finagled onto the compensation committee, (certainly NOT the stockholders). In a more nearly perfect world there would be a criminal penalty for that kind of disgraceful act. If he was such an asset to the company, isn't it strange that the stock price has improved so dramaticly since he left ?

I have worked for Exxon (and by proxy for Lee Raymond) for over 25 years. I have enjoyed the benefits of Exxon's success for that time. We have to remember that we are in a capitalist economic system. If Mr. Raymond could negotiate a $400 million retirement package, then he deserves every penny. Of course I would like my salary to be closer to his ($51 million)but I don't have the leverage of a CEO in directing the success or failure for the entire company. I am compensated pretty well for my part of the business. Of the $36 billion profit for 2005 and the billions in profit while Lee was at the helm (as President, CEO, and Chairman), $400 million could be considered a very fair percentage of his productivity.

I am a stockholder in a number of publicly owned Co.s. It is appauling to me how much compensation so many of these Chairman of the Board are receiving. The ratio of how much these individuals receive vs. the lowest paid employees in their Co.s is totally out of line. That ratio has been expanding at an enormous rate over the last couple of decades and now is simply obscene. No individual is worth what some of these people are receiving.
We are seeing one of the most egregous abuses of power by members of Board of Directors who approve these levels of compensation for their good buddies who appointed them to the Boards. What is amazing is that Boards surveys each others Co.'s pay practices to justify the obscene packages they approve. It results in a gigantic circle of compensation abuse.
The spread of wealth between the lowest vs. highest levels in our society in widening in a way that surely will lead to confrontation at some point in the future.

shareholders should have a vote on the amounts of compensation given to all ceo's and execs.1 am sure that the ludicrous amounts given away to the dictators of the corps would be greatly reduced.
stockholders are being royally screwed because they are unable to vote on exec compensation.

TO MUCH IS BEING PAID TO A CEO NOW DAYS
$4OO MILLION IS WAY TO MUCH OF PAYOUT FOR RETIREMENT
HOWABOUT INCREASING THE DIVIDEND PAYOUT TO THE SHAREHOLDERS WHO ALSO MAYE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE COMPANY TO PROSPER.

We need more direct control by stockholders of compensation packages to prevent this horrible robbery of of corporate coffers by insiders and their hand picked compensation committees.

All that money and he's fat and ugly with bad teeth. Go figure.

If he's reading this, please, please Mr. Raymond, fix those teeth. Gawd its disgusting to look at! I've seen homeless people who look more groomed.

Exxon is the owner of it's enterprize. The fact that consumers are paying record prices for exxon's product is meaningless.
Here in America companies desire to sell their product at higher prices, that is principally how profits go up. Why is it that oil consumers somehow fail to understand they own nothing and as long as there are multiple oil companies giving at least the appearance of competition the consumer should pay with a smile. As a shareholder of exxon let me say I would like to price our company product at $4.00 gallon. I recommend americans learn to use less, that is how to save.

Lee Raymond built the most profitable oil company in the industry, far surpassing both Shell and BP. The press went nuts over his retirment package of $400 million for building the mnost valuable private company in the world.

does the press or other critics complain about Hedge Fund operators making $100 to $500 million per year? Did they complain about the riches of Paulsen of Goldman Saschs and his $500 million net worth and then going to the Treasury, or Bob Rubin of Citigroup and his $billion.

The oild industry takes too much flack

Joe P

Lee Raymond did a great job building a powerful company, but he did little to help the shareholders. Dividends need to be increased, and the up coming split could easily be more then a 2 -1 split.