As Stocks Plummeted, Executive Pensions Soared in ‘08

Pensions for top U.S. executives increased by an average of 19% in 2008, and over 200 officers saw their retirement savings surge by as much as 50%, even as their companies’ stock prices plunged, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Pensions increased as a result of generous formulas and some little-scrutinized techniques, like changes in age or interest rates used in calculations, the Journal said, citing an analysis of filings from 340 Standard & Poor’s 500 companies.

And with the public incensed over lavish pay and big bonuses, the Journal said on its website that pensions increased even as stock prices plummeted by an average of 37% in 2008. Yet supplemental executive retirement plans, or SERPs, are, for the most part, overlooked.

Last year, the chief executive of Merck & Co. saw his pension benefit increase from almost $10 million to $21.7 million. Certain incentive payments for ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva increased his pension from $9.5 million to $68.2 million.

The top executives at General Electric saw the amounts they were owed from pensions increase by 13% to $140.7 million.