I wonder what Bob Nardelli really got paid to lead Chrysler into bankruptcy.
Does anybody believe the beg-for-a-bailout rhetoric that he only took a $1 salary? Privately held Chrysler does not have to answer the question.
Nardelli is out as Chrysler’s CEO, making way for Fiat SpA CEO Sergio Marchionne to either take charge or find someone smarter than Nardelli to run the company, which can’t be too difficult.
Nardelli will be kicked upstairs into some advisory role at Chrysler’s owner, Cereberus Capital Management.
Nardelli should be a Harvard Business School case study on how to be richly rewarded for failure.
During his six years at Home Depot Inc., the company’s stock rose in a housing boom and sank when it busted, which also might have happened if a monkey was in charge. Nevertheless, Nardelli received a $210 million severance package when he left in January 2007.
