Biggest Golden Parachutes
As outcry grows over executives who reap millions in severance bonuses in the face of their companies' downfalls and bail-outs, TIME takes a look at other golden parachutes — and the people who opened them.
—Claire Suddath
The former CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp. turned an obscure little company into one of the country's biggest mortgage providers. Unfortunately, that put him at the top of the subprime-mortgage bubble that began to burst in 2007. Mozilo testified about the subprime ordeal before the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March 2008, and voluntarily forwent $37.5 million in severance pay, as well as an annual $400,000 "consulting fee." But when Bank of America Corp. bought the struggling Countrywide, Mozilo still took home about $44 million — on top of the $140 million in Countrywide stock he sold off during 2006-7.
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