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Wellpoint Execs to Get Potential $600M Payout in Anthem Buyout
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Payments to Wellpoint executives after the company's previously announced buyout by Anthem Inc. could top $600 million if regulators and shareholders do not modify the acquisition terms, according to documents received from California regulators by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights under a Public Records Act Request late Tuesday.The documents outline potential payments in excess of those estimated by the company to shareholders at $200 million in a recent proxy, says Jamie Court, president of FTCR and author of Corporateering. Executives will receive cash bonuses worth between $146 million and $365 million under the proposed terms of the company's buyout by Anthem, in addition to over $251 million in stock options. For instance, Wellpoint Chief Executive Officer Leonard Schaeffer has already begun exercising his stock options as of June 1, earning $16 million on that one day alone and increasing the size of his shares by hundreds of thousands.The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer will urge the state and shareholders to scale back the executive pay package at hearings on the acquisition before the California Assembly this afternoon -- in addition to suggesting other conditions on the deal to guarantee continuity of care for patients. Shareholders will meet later in the month."When patients are being denied access to basic drugs, specialists and procedures in the name of cost-cutting, this platinum parachute must be cut back by shareholders and regulators," Court said. "Wellpoint executives shouldn't be able to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits from policyholders and shareholders."The documents are available online: www.consumerwatchdog.org/healthcare/rp/rp004344.pdf "