Chasing the Quarterly-earnings Rabbit

So the news this week is that Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard has upped the ante for firing employees to some 50,000 in the implementation of what is euphemistically called restructuring. And I don’t mean to whine and cry about it, far be it from me, because running a global enterprise is tough and she’s a tough lady. Good enough. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, unless you’re among the top dogs and Meg’s annual remuneration package of $17.6 million puts her right up there. But she works for a dollar a year, doesn’t she? Right you are, which brings me to the core of an argument I’ve long made:

Corporate CEO’s have been out there chasing the Quarterly-earnings Rabbit, essentially since the Reagan 80s. Where hotshot CEOs were once valued for enhancing the long-term health and welfare of the companies they manage, the thirst today is for ever-growing stock prices and they’re outrageously compensated for doing just that. The $17.6 million Meg tucked in her savings account (aside fro…