Lenovo CEO Handed His $3 Million Bonus to Employees

[Gulli]

[citation][nom]DRosencraft[/nom]Was it a nice gesture? Sure. But regardless of what you think the reason was, whether your think he earned that bonus or not, should he have given more or not, the reality is that it amounts to scooping sand off the beach with a spoon. It might amount to a good bit for those people, but it is a long way from making any sort of difference in anything in the long run.[/citation]

In the end it does nothing to resolve income inequality and even worse, it reduces hardworking people to slaves who "should be glad their corporate god-emperor decides to throw them a few scraps" even though they are the ones who do most of the actual work, including the cerebral kind. It's not charity, it's a thief trying to make people believe he's a good guy for giving them some of the money back that he stole from them.

 

[marcolorenzo]

It's funny how, when a CEO doesn't hand out any money, people don't bat an eyelid but now when someone actually gave out some of his money, people complain that he didn't give enough. 'Tis a funny world we live in!

 

[eddieroolz]

Impressive. Knowing that this kind spirit still resides in some CEOs give me hope.

 

[Guest]

No one earns 100s or 1000s of times the average full time pay. You cant earn that kind of pay i dont care what you do. Even if you cancer, create cold fusion, and invent faster the light travel, and you still dont deserve 100x the average full time wage, let alone more.

I applaud him for taking the moral high road. However its not so high once you learn he already got a 5.4 million bonus, on top of whatever else he got. But for CEOs hes like jesus in his generosity.

 

[Gulli]

[citation][nom]marcolorenzo[/nom]It's funny how, when a CEO doesn't hand out any money, people don't bat an eyelid [...][/citation]

Guess you didn't notice the whole "occuppy" thingy...

 

[Gulli]

[citation][nom]aslkj2[/nom]No one earns 100s or 1000s of times the average full time pay. You cant earn that kind of pay i dont care what you do. Even if you cancer, create cold fusion, and invent faster the light travel, and you still dont deserve 100x the average full time wage, let alone more.I applaud him for taking the moral high road. However its not so high once you learn he already got a 5.4 million bonus, on top of whatever else he got. But for CEOs hes like jesus in his generosity.[/citation]

In reality most people in the position to find a cure for cancer or invent nuclear fusion or FTL travel will be working for a large tech firm where they had to sign a waiver that the rights to their inventions are property of the firm, the rest works for a government and is also restricted from making money off of the rights. So our "system" doesn't even reward these people, while it showers useless bankers and executives with gold.

But yeah, you're right, anyone who would invent such a thing would see it as simply the result of an honest day's work, because that's what it ultimately is: even Einstein was limited to 24 hours per day and simply did work that came most natural to him. Other people may not have Einstein's cerebral capabilities but instead they do backbreaking/dirty labor or risk their lives in combat, things that Einstein never did, never wanted to do and probably couldn't have done. The point is: everyone is just doing their best and that's all you can ask, so there's no reason to pay one person 100 times more than another when both their jobs are essential to the grand scheme.

 

[Gulli]

[citation][nom]PepiX[/nom]Well.. he handed down more than 20% of his income.. how much more would one need to donate in order to be a good man.. for me this is more than enough.[/citation]

To you cutting 20% probably digs in to your rent/mortgage, he still has enough left to buy a new yacht every year...

 

[izmanq]

hmm, @Gulli & @back_by_demand, sometimes the CEO does earn his/her high pay, company doesn't pay salary base on hard work, but on value, assembly worker probably work harder than engineer, but engineer is more valueable than assembly worker, so their salary is higher, sounds not fair, but that's the reality, if company pays salary base on hardwork only, i'm afraid that company won't survive for long 😛 that's probably why communism fail. BUT it's true some CEO doesn't earn their money, eg it's not ok when the company is losing money, but the CEO rewarded with bonuses

 

[Gulli]

[citation][nom]izmanq[/nom]hmm, @Gulli & @back_by_demand, sometimes the CEO does earn his/her high pay, company doesn't pay salary base on hard work, but on value, assembly worker probably work harder than engineer, but engineer is more valueable than assembly worker, so their salary is higher, sounds not fair, but that's the reality, if company pays salary base on hardwork only, i'm afraid that company won't survive for long that's probably why communism fail. BUT it's true some CEO doesn't earn their money, eg it's not ok when the company is losing money, but the CEO rewarded with bonuses[/citation]

I know that's the reasoning behind paying engineers more (basically they have to be enticed to spend a lot of money on college and study for years without an income) and then stay bound to the company. However, this reasoning is flawed when it comes to CEOs: they get far more then needed to entice them and even though they have the power to screw the company up on their own, they do not have the power to make a company successful on their own and people who can manage a company are not nearly as rare as CEOs like to believe, just look at all the companies that are doing just fine when inbetween CEOs (when a much less paid manager is effectively handling the company). Just because a chimp (or George Bush) can be given the power to destroy the world with the push of a single button doesn't mean a chimp can make a world prosper, but he can let it "get by" by doing nothing and leaving the work to his more knowledgeable employees.

 

[burmese_dude]

[citation][nom]killabanks[/nom]how much did Steve hand out? thats what i thought[/citation]

That's an unfair criticism to our -- "Dear Leader" Steve. He gave plenty of middle finger and job termination papers to a lot of people. So he does give in his own way.

 

[marcolorenzo]

[citation][nom]Gulli[/nom]To you cutting 20% probably digs in to your rent/mortgage, he still has enough left to buy a new yacht every year...[/citation]

Good point.

 

[izmanq]

no @Gulli, that's not why engineer is paid more, they are paid more because they're value more, it doesn't matter how much money or time they spend, if they are valueble to they company, it's makes sense for the company to pay more to keep them.

what you're mention are bad cases of CEOs, yes, they does not worth their payment. there are CEO's that doing their job, and makes the company prosper, they worth their payment. though i don't like steve jobs, but i must accept he does worth his payment 😀 you mentioned that a CEO should not paid more than let's say 20 times of factory worker salary ? but in this case a good CEO worth more 100 hardworking factory worker (foxconn worker worked to dead but they're expendable to apple 🙁 ).

before steve jobs rejoin, apple is dying, but look at apple now, that's an example that when CEOs do their job, they do worth their payment.

 

[Crush3d]

[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]3,000,000 / 2,000 = 1,500he only gave $314 out 1,500 to 2000 people...I'm actually NOT impressed[/citation]

Really.. dear God. Learn to read.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]izmanq[/nom]hmm, @Gulli & @back_by_demand, sometimes the CEO does earn his/her high pay, company doesn't pay salary base on hard work, but on value, assembly worker probably work harder than engineer, but engineer is more valueable than assembly worker, so their salary is higher, sounds not fair, but that's the reality, if company pays salary base on hardwork only, i'm afraid that company won't survive for long that's probably why communism fail. BUT it's true some CEO doesn't earn their money, eg it's not ok when the company is losing money, but the CEO rewarded with bonuses[/citation]
Not all CEOs are dicks, some of the richest billionaires have agreed to give it all to charity, Gates, Buffet, etc - but they are the absolute exception and in Gates case it was his company so the companies value is what he owned - I applaude this guy for giving away his bonus but the fact remains that CEOs who are nothing more than employees should not earn an annual salary equal to the New York State Lottery and bonuses should not be paid to anyone who's achievements include fraud, criminal negligence, price fixing, data theft or mass redundancy
...
The idea is that the best rise to the top, but not the best at being an evil greedy bastard

 

[slabbo]

[citation][nom]kcorp2003[/nom]CEOs don't start out "multi-million dollar company". they are appointed.[/citation]
I think Jeffrey P. Bezos, Bill Gates, etc...and countless others would like a word with you.

 

[izmanq]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Not all CEOs are dicks, some of the richest billionaires have agreed to give it all to charity, Gates, Buffet, etc - but they are the absolute exception and in Gates case it was his company so the companies value is what he owned - I applaude this guy for giving away his bonus but the fact remains that CEOs who are nothing more than employees should not earn an annual salary equal to the New York State Lottery and bonuses should not be paid to anyone who's achievements include fraud, criminal negligence, price fixing, data theft or mass redundancy...The idea is that the best rise to the top, but not the best at being an evil greedy bastard[/citation]

let's say a company can choose between two CEOs, one that kindhearted and donate all his earning to charity, he's capable to double company's profit, and the other one keep all his salary and bonuses for himself, but capable to increase company's profit to 10x, which CEO will you choose ? 😛

company don't choose or value CEO based on his kindness or his hard work, but based on what he can do for the company sometimes regardless how he do it 😀.

 

[Guest]

There is an awful lot of bitching here. No one is to blame for what CEO's make other than the public. If you have a problem with it do on of two things: Stop buying there products or if if you own stock in the company then actually exercise your right to vote. We don't need more bureaucratic regulation, it won't fix the problem.

Also, if his total compensation was $14 million and he gave away $3 million that is 21.5% of his income. How can you possibly say that that is not generous.

I work for a large fortune 500 company and yes it does irritate me sometime to think about how much our CEO makes, but I can assure you that it is not easy work. He works very long hours and usually works weekends as well.

 

[blurr91]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Even then, working 24 hours a day still does not qualify any human being earning over $50 million a year, no matter how successful the company is or how much profit they make, the man at the top should not take credit for the hard work of thousand of lower paid plebs...[/citation]

What we should have is a central government agency that determines exactly how much each person should be paid depending on the type of job he does. This way we can make sure people don't get overpaid or underpaid.

Let's start with the president of the United States. He is the most powerful man in the world so he should be at the top of the pay scale. How much do you think he should be paid?

 

[blurr91]

[citation][nom]Gulli[/nom]So I take it all the engineers at Lenovo also received a $3 million bonus?[/citation]

Hmmm...how much do you think the president of the United State makes? Does everyone working for the federal government make that much money?

Do you think a teacher's job is any less important than the president? Why don't teachers make more, at least as much as the president?

How about a paramedic who saves lives? Are you saying he's not as important as the president?

Why not institute a single wage throughout the country? Doesn't matter what you do, what hours you work, let's all get paid the same wage, because that's just "fair."

 

[uvirra]

[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]3,000,000 / 2,000 = 1,500he only gave $314 out 1,500 to 2000 people...I'm actually NOT impressed[/citation]
It's 10,000 employees not 2000. The 2000 refers to 2000Yuan.
So, 3,000,000/10,000 = USD300.

 

[11796pcs]

[citation][nom]blurr91[/nom]What we should have is a central government agency that determines exactly how much each person should be paid depending on the type of job he does. This way we can make sure people don't get overpaid or underpaid.Let's start with the president of the United States. He is the most powerful man in the world so he should be at the top of the pay scale. How much do you think he should be paid?[/citation]
Exactly, sometimes this stuff is unmeasurable. I know I will be down voted but I don't care. Frankly, I could care less if these CEOs are paid millions of dollars. They worked hard to get to their position. And why is it any of my business anyway what some dude gets paid? If things get out of hand, then the workers will rise up and blah blah blah socialist rant. If you have such a problem with this stuff, then stop hiding behind your computers and complaining and fix the problem or go out and become as successful as these CEOs. You want to start deciding how much someone should receive in compensation for a job? That's manipulation of distribution of wealth and one of the key things found in a Communist state.

 

[arlandi]

tom, you're late. come on, you can do better than this.

we can all be like this. if we can share a small percentage of our income each month to help those in need, imagine how big those effort combined.

 

[ryushin]

Come on people. He gave out part of his bonus willingly. Whether he has ulterior motives is up to him and his conscience. Whatever amount 'trickled' down to the employees is still added disposable income for them. Why can't people just be happy and thankful for the good things that happen to them or to other people. Tsk, tsk.. @_@

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]izmanq[/nom]let's say a company can choose between two CEOs, one that kindhearted and donate all his earning to charity, he's capable to double company's profit, and the other one keep all his salary and bonuses for himself, but capable to increase company's profit to 10x, which CEO will you choose ? company don't choose or value CEO based on his kindness or his hard work, but based on what he can do for the company sometimes regardless how he do it .[/citation]
I'm not ignorant to how the selection process works for a new CEO, but it seems a vicious circle, the pay scales are so high that the pressure to succeed almost forces them towards illegal activities, but the thing is if they get caught and the company gets a huge fine, should the CEO still get his bonus?
...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
...
BP set up a $20 billion fund to pay for the mess they caused, due to "cost cutting", so did the CEO get to keep his huge salary and bonus? Did the whole board? I'm sure it's very American to be in favour of huge salaries and a capitalist economy - tell that to the people in Louisiana that will have had their tourist industry destroyed, fisheries industry decimated and a generation of children born with health defects

 

[rooket]

Apple CEO, nudge nudge.

People are so brainwashed by Apple products that even if you dig up Steve's dead corpse and stick it behind a podium at a mac convention, more people will flock to apple stores and the like to splurge cash on their stuff irregardless if while he was living he was a good charitable person and cared about people or not. Down with the mac elitist which own computers that "never crash" and "never get virii" as well as "can do more/better stuff" ya right.