Executive compensation - Top pay keeps rising, despite soft profits

Company executives continued to earn big bucks in the year 2001 despite mostly lower earning, target were not met at many firms but aggregate short-term compensation still increased. According to the compensation committee: 'A discretionary assessment of individual performance in challenging economic environment'. The executives with the most options tended to be the big winner in variable compensation. Many option programs are structured to make the option expire when the executives employment ends, giving retiring executives an additional to cash in beyond their reduced tax circumstances.