The $33,000 Per Hour Consultant
And other seamy sweetheart deals hiding in corporate annual reports.
By Michelle Leder
Posted Friday, March 19, 2004, at 7:12 AM PT

…But before you chuck your 10Ks in the trash, give them a quick read. You'll get a sense of whether your company really has learned its lesson from the past few years. If you own shares in the cruise line Carnival Corp., for example, check out the 10K's description of the consulting contract it signed with A. Kirk Lanterman, who resigned as chief executive of Carnival subsidiary Holland America last November. Carnival will pay Lanterman nearly $167,000 each month for the next 15 years. In exchange, he is required to work a grand total of five hours a month. That's $33,000 per hour!

Stanley Works' shareholders who read their 10K closely will find an equally ridiculous deal. Former CEO John M. Trani, who attracted controversy two years ago when he proposed moving the Connecticut-based company to Bermuda to avoid taxes, will do even better than Lanterman, at least over the short term. Trani resigned on Jan. 1 and began collecting $243,750 a month under his retirement agreement. After two years, the fee drops to a meager $113,742 a month. In retirement, Trani is earning four times as much as the CEO who replaced him, John Lundgren.

Gannett's 10K suggests the nation's largest newspaper company needs a better payroll manager. It plans to pay former Chief Financial Officer Larry Miller $600,000 a year under a consulting contract signed last year when Miller retired. That's $40,000 more than Miller made when he was working full time for the company, and now he only has to work half time. Under the contract, Gannett will also continue to pay for Miller's car and his membership at a local country club.