Nardelli/Grasso Connection

I'm sure by now most of you have heard about Bob Nardelli, CEO of Home Depot, resigning and receiving a $210 million golden parachute. The outcry over the amount of money paid to someone who was a miserable failure is understandable, but HD agreed to these amounts back when they hired the man. Furthermore, the pay package was fully disclosed to shareholders, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for the HD board or shareholders.

Here's an interesting aside though; Ken Langone, who sat on the compensation committee at the NYSE back when Dick Grasso's pay package was approved, also happens to be on the Home Depot board. Further, in 2000, he was the lead director and sat on the Executive, Stock Option and Human Resources committees. Langone also serves on the boards of GE, Choicepoint, YUM! Brands, and Unifi.