JURIST - Paper Chase: Disney judge warns that government may regulate executive pay

[JURIST] A Delaware Chancery Court [official website] judge on Tuesday warned that corporate directors may face US government regulation of executive pay unless they control soaring salaries and payoffs. Judge William Chandler [state court profile], who ruled [JURIST report] in August that Disney’s directors acted properly in paying $140 million to former president Michael Ovitz [Wikipedia backgrounder] when he resigned in 1996, delivered a stern warning that executive pay has become “spectacularly unhinged from the market for corporate talent.” With the average pay packet for US CEOs at $9.8 million, Chandler said that regulatory control of executive pay would be used as a "blunt instrument." Former US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] Chairman William Donaldson [SEC profile] and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman William McDonough have also called for restraining executive pay. The warning from Chandler follows the resignation of Disney Chairman Michael Eisner [JURIST report] earlier this month. Reuters has more.

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