Energy CEO is paid 44 million dollars for 20 minutes of work

Bill Johnson is an honest sounding name, but do not let the plain tenor fool you. Mr. Johnson was in charge of a $26 billion merger between Duke Energy and Prospect Energy for a grand total of 20 minutes before he abruptly resigned, and a clause in his contract says he is now due a $44 million payoff.

The Attorney General of North Carolina is looking into the contract, and has made requests for the companies to turn over very specific information including board meeting minutes. This is likely to verify the origination of the contract, and they are going to this length because shareholders are justifiably outraged.

After the news of this golden parachute hit wall street, vengeance from the market came quickly with Standard and Poor’s putting Duke Energy on a special watch list that may cause the company’s credit rating to be downgraded, and ultimately hurt shareholders investments.

Alfred Tollison Jr is a former board member of Progress Energy and he says, ‘In my opinion this is the most blatant example of corporate deceit that I have witnessed during a long career on Wall Street’, as published by The Daily Mail.

Bill Johnson is a known jet-setter. In the last year alone he spent almost a half a million dollars flying across the world. This is not the first time he has been at the head of a controversy, and has had multiple CEO compensation packages during his career.

Johnson’s previous packages were also investigated, but he has yet to be found guilty of any wrongdoing.