Biggest Golden Parachutes

A word of advice for future CEOs: don't give yourself an enormous pay raise when your publicly-traded company's share price is falling. That's what Henry McKinnell did as CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, taking a 72% pay increase in 2005 as its company struggled to reduce costs in light of projected earnings losses. When McKinnell left Pfizer in 2006, the stock's price had declined by 46%; he still managed to take home an $83 million pension anyway. An airplane flew over the company after his departure trailing a banner that read "Give It Back, Hank!"