Working Hard for the Money?

WORKING HARD FOR THE MONEY? PEOPLE WHO CHANGED OUR LIVES BUT DIED PENNILESS-AND SOME WHO GOT SWEETHEART DEALS FOR NOT DOING A WHOLE LOT NIKOLA CHARLES TESLA TILLINGHAST JR. TILLINGHAST IS GENERALLY CREDITED AS THE FIRST GOLDEN PARACHUTE RECIPIENT, he never actually opened his chute from TWA. The Serbian-American inventor was a key innovator in the use of electricity and developing the AC electrical supply system. HIS PATENTS AND THEORIES ALSO FORMED THE BASIS OF WIRELESS TWA COMMUNICATION AND RADIO. He had more than 700 N But when Tillinghast became chairman of the airline in 1961, his contract included a clause that would provide him his money even if he lost his job. PATENTS to his name, yet spent his last years feeding pigeons outside New York's public library. GARY KILDALL ANGELO MÔZILO Nearly 10 years before Bill Gates' deal with IBM for MS-DOS, KILDALL DEVELOPED Mozilo testified before Congress about the subprime mortgage crisis, and when Bank of America bought the struggling Countrywide, THE FIRST OPERATING SYSTEM FOR PERSONAL COMPUTERS. No doubt, the Age of the Computer has changed the way the world works. MOZILO (AS CEO) TOOK HOME ABOUT $44 MILLION ON TOP OF THE $140 MILLION IN COUNTRYWIDE kildall died after a skirmish at a bar in washington state. STOCK HE SOLD DURING 2006-07, the start of the subprime bubble bursting. MICHAEL CHARLES GOÖDYEAR ÖVITZ When the one-time super-aqent Ovitz became An accidental discovery eventually led Goodyear to the formula for VULCANIZING RUBBER, A PROCESS THAT REVOLUTIONIZED Disney's president in 1995, HIS CONTRACT CAME WITH A $130 MILLION SEVERANCE PACKAGE IF HE SHOULD BE FIRED; HE WAS, TAKING THE MILLIONS WITH HIM. TRANSPORTATION AROUND THE WORLD. But Goodyear unwisely allowed his invention to be taken by a rival. About four decades after his was named in his honor. Disney shareholders filed suit, demanding the money back. That case dragged on until 2006, when the Delaware Supreme Court ruled for Ovitz. ROBERT CARLY KEARNS FIORINA Hewlett-Packard's fortunes under Fiorina's What's now standard equipment on vehicles, Kearns' intermittent windshield wipers, were the subject of lawsuits against a series of automakers. guidance weren't bright; value declined, the company made major layoffs, and its merger with Compaq was largely unsuccessful. KEARNS SETTLED WITH FORD AND WON A SUIT AGAINST CHRYSLER. FOR HER IN CASH, $40 SERVICES, STOCK AND But he lost his cases against General Motors and foreign automakers; the legal battles dragged on so long that Kearns' attorneys saw the biggest benefit. FIORINA GOT MILLION BENEFITS. ALMOST A subsequent U.S. Senate campaign was a failure. ELI HENRY WHITNEY MCKINNELL THOUGH WHITNEY IS CREDITED McKinnell's tenure as Pfizer's CEO WITH INVENTING THE COTTON included a controversial 72 percent raise in 2005. GIN, WHICH FOREVER CHANGED THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY, the invention was so simple that Whitney's patent was impossible to enforce. WHEN HE DEPARTED THE COMPANY IN 2006, HE MANAGED TO TAKE The bulk of Whitney's life was spent trying to pursue patent infringement lawsuits. HOME AN $83 MILLION PENSION PAYMENT, DESPITE THE STOCK 46% DROPPING SOURCES http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2002/1223/258_4.html http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1848501_1848500_1848428,0o.html #ixzz22i4rWwP8 BusinessMBA.org