Looks like The New York Times has learned the old politico’s trick of publicly releasing potentially embarrassing information late on a Friday afternoon.
That’s precisely what the company did last Friday, filing a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that finally put a price tag on ex-CEO Janet Robinson’s golden parachute.
Initial stories estimated Robinson’s severance package at between $15 million and $21 million — not exactly chump change even at the low end of the stick.
But it turns out that Robinson — who saw the Times’ stock drop more than 80 percent in value during her tenure — will be collecting a stunning $24 million.
That includes performance awards worth $5.4 million and a $4.5 million contract for 2012 that requires her to “consult” for up to 15 hours a month — which works out to $25,000 an hour.
Her total package equals about 60 percent of the Times Co.’s entire net loss for 2011.
Maybe it’s time for Occupy Wall Street to form its own unit at The New York Times.
After all, this is a paper that has bemoaned the fact that the middle class keeps getting “socked . . . while the rich have recovered and prospered” and that “income gains at the top would not be as worrisome as they are if the middle class and the poor were also gaining.”
Now, we don’t dispute the right of corporations to pay their top executives whatever they may see fit.
But wouldn’t it be nice if the paper displayed a little self-awareness before it goes on again about “corporate greed,” or celebrates Occupy Wall Street?