The value of incompetence: Tank the firm, grab the gold

What do you get if the share price of the company you run topples from $50 to $30 on your watch?

What do you get if your principal stockholder bails out, claiming you failed to act to maintain the share price?

What do you get if you lay off hundreds of employees over the years to reduce expenses but fail to improve the product sufficiently to invigorate revenues?

What you do get? You get rich. Now that Chicago businessman Sam Zell has wheeled himself into ownership of the Tribune Co., current Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis J. FitzSimons is expected to leave at the end of year — with an estimated $40 million, according to corporate disclosure documents.

Advertisement