Posted by denised in 
While many highly competent job seekers, out of work through no fault of their own, hit the pavement each day looking for jobs that will pay them even a fraction of what they used to earn, the individuals below made colossal errors in judgment and mismanaged companies into the red, yet they bounced back, landing jobs or severance packages that paid them far more than what their previous performance suggested they were worth.
Here’s a look at some of the execs who managed to land on their feet, and our heads…
- As head of global markets and investment for Merrill Lynch, Dow Kim oversaw the increase in the amount of collateral debt obligations that eventually led to the company being the number 1 Wall Street issuer of the instrument most closely linked to the catastrophic mortgage crisis we’re all still dealing with. The derivatives led to billions of losses that weakened the firm. Kim left Lynch in 2007, before anyone had a handle on just how bad things would become, and maybe that’s why he was able to walk away with more than $35 million.
- Remember the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf? Trust me its residents still do. Tony Hayward, BPs CEO at the time, received a year’s salary when he left, about $1.7 million and stocks valued at much more.
- Speaking of disasters…The March 2010 explosion at Massey Energy’s Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia left 29 miners dead and resulted in Massey posting a $167 million loss in 2010. However former Massey CEO Don Blankenship received a $14.4 million severance package, a $7 million pension and $32.1 million in deferred compensation.
Apparently it pays to fail BIG.
Click here to check out the Yahoo! Finance list of 11 corporate titans who profited after failure.
