Post-Death Payday

Because you can take it with you!:

It's not enough that American CEOs get paid gigantic sums, many are also due to collect huge severance packages after they die, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Among the more outrageous posthumous packages:

• $298.1 million for Comcast CEO Brian Roberts;
• $288 million for Nabors CEO Eugene Isenberg;
• $115.6 million for Occidental CEO Ray Irani
• $17 million for Shaw Group CEO J.M. Bernhard to not compete with the firm after he dies.

The practice is time-honored but was largely hidden until a recent change to disclosure requirements. Defenders say the packages are merely "deferred compensation" or geared to aid estate-planning and tax efficiency.