United Health CEO Retiring

[Beowulf]

MINNEAPOLIS - <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AT /><AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>UnitedHealth Group Inc. said on Sunday that Chairman and chief executive William McGuire will step down, after months of questions about the timing behind his stock option grants.
<AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>UnitedHealth spokesman Mark Lindsay confirmed McGuire's retirement.
<AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>UnitedHealth President and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Hemsley will be named CEO, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing "a person familiar with the matter."
<AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>McGuire has been under pressure since The Wall Street Journal reported in March that he received stock options on the days the company's stock price hit yearly lows in 1997, 1999, and 2000. The timing is unlikely unless the stock option grants were backdated

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I love this part. It speaks volumes about today's CEO's:
McGuire had $1.6 billion in exercisable options as of the end of 2005.

I know, I know, "he earned it!" or "it was agreed upon by stockholders.":rolleyes:

[Timberwolf]

What pure, unadulterated BULL...take most of those stock options and return them to the shareholders in the form of premium reductions.

Rampant greed will be the undoing of America. She will fall with nary a shot being fired.

[Rhino]

It speaks volumes about today's CEO's:No it doesn't, unless you read the liberal playbook.

[Timberwolf]

Yes, it does. That kind of compensation, in light of what premiums are today, ought to be a crime on par with extortion.

[Rhino]

No, it doesn't. You said "today's CEO's", a blanket condemnation, then cited one specific person. One person does not condemn all CEOs. Nor does large compensation for that matter. The question in this matter involves backdating options, which may or may not be illegal. That hardly condemns all CEOs, even if it turns out to be illegal in this case. Condemning anyone and everyone who gets huge compensation sounds like one of those class envy tactics right out of the liberal handbook. It doesn't fly.

[Timberwolf]

Point taken. Not class envy, but common sense. Insurance premiums are unaffordable for most families and this guys getting BILLIONS? Not that I partake in such things, but this kind of crap makes class envy UNDERSTANDABLE.

[Rhino]

A tough pill to swallow, I know. And yes, I understand it too.

[Beowulf]

OK, a laundry list of CEO's, past and present, who have made me feel as I do. Some I can't remember their names.
-Ken Lay (Enron)
-Leo Mullin (former Delta Airlines)
-Don Carty (former American Airlines)
-The former CEO of Tyco.
-The lady who just stepped down from Hewlett Packard.
-The guy who retired from Exxon/Mobil with that $400 million dollar parachute.

Sorry, Rhino, I like you and all but these crooks are why I now say "mismanagement." I'm sure there are plenty more that I can't think of.

[Rhino]

I'm sure there are. I'm also sure they wouldn't account for one tenth of one percent of US CEOs. That's why the blanket label doesn't fit. Besides, the market sets the compensation levels. So, barring illegal or improper activity, there's absolutely no reason to blame CEOs. I believe in a free market. If I thought everybody should earn the same, or that higher compensation was reason for villification, I would have moved to a communist country years ago.

[TechnoPrincess]

Maybe the new one will give us better coverage...or at least find decent Dr's somewhere in IL....

The ones that it keeps coming up w/in my area I am not thrilled with. Good hospitals though!!