Vikram Pandit (Citigroup chief), Edward Liddy (AIG chief), and Google senior executives Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt have all humbly taken a mere USD 1 salary. Recession does change the tides of (corporate) history.

Well, USD 1 can hardly be called salary. It can’t be referred to as token, either. Honorarium, no. So, it’s probably just a ceremonial undertaking in line with the economic downturn. What they lose in millions, they can gain through PR mileage, a guaranteed seating on the thrones of Big Business history, or a sealed assurance of a fair amount of good karma.

Citigroup and AIG are 2008 losers that went near death. The US has already bailed out AIG to the tune of nearly USD 170 billion. Google’s profits also declined. What these heroic executives did was a slap (on both cheeks) to those Wall Street top executives who brazenly took multimillion dollar bonuses post-bailout.

These executives have declared that they will continue taking USD 1 salary until their companies return to profitability. Maybe, that will be in three years’ time if we are to believe the financial gurus the world over.

No matter. These executives also happen to be shareholders in their respective corporations. So, it’s not as if they will live a la pobre until the economic skies become clear again. For these execs, the salary is just icing on the cake. Salary, for top honchos, is just loose change.

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Via mydigitalfc.com