EXECUTIVE PACKAGES The atmosphere was distinctly chilly at Walt Disney's recent annual general meeting - and not merely because shareholders were sitting above the ice at the company's Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey stadium.
Boos and hisses resonated round the arena as chief executive Michael Eisner rose to defend the stock option package which was expected to earn him at least US$200 million (HK$1.54 billion) over the next 10 years.
For shareholders who had already seen Mr Eisner reap US$240 million profit on exercised share options in his 12 years at the helm of the company, it was too much to take. And it came only weeks after Michael Ovitz earned an unprecedented US$90 million payoff - including options on US$54 million in Disney shares - after an ill-fated 14 months as the corporation's president.
Around one in 10 shareholders voted against the Eisner compensation package. Not enough to derail it, but enough to send a warning shot across the bow of America's fat-cat bosses and their ever-inflating bank balances.
Executive pay consultant Ken Hugessen had a rationale for the huge handouts being given to Mr Eisner - and presumably to many of his peers.
'How do you deal with a boss if he has $500 million stashed away?' he said. 'The usual levers just don't exist.' But even if Disney's board sees no other way to safeguard the services of the man who has admittedly boosted revenues more than 10-fold during his tenure, that is not enough to quell the growing discomfort felt in business and political circles at the way 99 per cent of the workforce is seeing its pay left behind by the men at the top.