'Retirement' of Wachovia CEO is refreshing

Posted Jun 2nd 2008 11:55AM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Management, Wachovia Corp (WB), Headline News

As Jon Berr wrote this morning, we shouldn't feel too bad for former Wachovia (NYSE: WB) CEO Kennedy Thompson, who is "retiring at the request of the Board." Even as the company struggled, he took home a huge amount of money.

Poorly-aligned compensation aside, there's a lot to like about the way this "retirement" was reported. Granted it didn't use the dreaded f-word (fired), but the press release was remarkably candid, noting already in the first paragraph that the board had requested his departure.

So often when executives are given the boot, the company doesn't level with shareholders. The company sends the CEO off into the sunset with an attaboy and a pat on the back, leaving shareholders to try to guess what actually went down.

We can -- and should -- give Wachovia's board of directors low marks for oversight and executive pay practices. But they should be praised for their candor in announcing their CEO's retirement, and their good faith effort to explain to shareholders exactly what's going on at the company.

Tags: inthenews, Wachovia, WB