No Reform in CEO Pay at General Mills

Stephen Sanger, the recently retired CEO of General Mills, ranked near the bottom of Forbes' 2007 CEO performance rankings (148 out of 189). And and his exit package, which I sifted through in the company's most recent proxy filing, suggests that General Mills has no intention of embracing the "say on pay" movement anytime soon. In 2007, Sanger took home a total of $18.7 million in a combination of cash and stock. In the first five months of 2008, before he retired in May, Sanger received another $7.3 million, plus another $470,701 in other compensation including a $40,200 discount on the purchase of his company car and $17,298 for unused vacation days.

Perhaps the board just thought they had been fair simply by giving the company's other recently retired executive, James Lawrence, the same benefits. Lawrence retired as Chief Financial Officer in October 2007, leaving with $5.2 million and $1.2 million in pay for 2007 and 2008, respectively. Lawrence's 2008 pay included a $8,214 discount toward the purchase of his car.

Reporting by contributor Debra Fiakas, who does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10-Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.