Section Five
On the basis of these data, Crystal provided a colorful
categorization of the extent to which the CEOs were worth the
compensation they received. In his top performance category,
which he termed “worth it big time,” he included some of the
following: Gordon Bethune, the CEO of Continental Airlines
whose shareholders received a 483 percent return over the
three-year period while Bethune received annual compensation
of $3,007,000; Herb Kelleher, the CEO of Southwest Airlines,
whose shareholders received 68.2 percent return in 1997, while
Kelleher received $651,000 in total compensation per year;
John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market, whose total
annual compensation was $332,000, while his shareholders
received returns for the three years from 58 to 91 percent;
Thomas Engibous, CEO of Texas Instruments, whose
shareholders received 62.8 percent over the period, while he
received $5,365,000 in total compensation. (Michael Dell was
an exception as his total compensation far exceeded the other
CEOs in this best category.)
In the worst category, “not worth it big time,” he included
the CEO of Enron, whose compensation totaled $13,701,000,
while shareholders in 1997 received a -1.4 percent return when
the Standard & Poor’s 500 generated a return of 33.4 percent.
He also included the CEO of Electronic Data Services (EDS) in
the worst category and provided the following commentary on
his compensation and the firm’s performance: