New York (HedgeCo.net) –  Footnoted, the business blog that unearths information buried deep in companies’ public filings, named the nominees for its annual “Worst Footnote of the Year” contest.

The votes are in, and Footnoted’s readers selected former Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker collecting around $25 million in severance and other benefits, including relocation back to France or Belgium after less than a year on the job, as the winner (or, depending on your viewpoint, loser).

The other nominees include:

·         Hedge fund MF Global agreeing to pay then-CEO Jon Corzine a $1.5 million retention bonus months before the company imploded.

·         Clear Channel Media Holdings  paying $3 million a year to a company controlled by Bob Pittman so that Pittman can fly in a Mystere Falcon 900 that Pittman owns for both business and personal use.

·         IBM’s outgoing CEO Samuel Palmisano becoming eligible for as much as $170 million in retirement benefits, just by waiting until he was past 60 to announce his retirement.

·         Nabors Industries agreeing to pay outgoing CEO Eugene Isenberg $100 million in severance on his way out the door.

“There were some really crazy disclosures in 2011, but Footnoted readers decided that the more than $25 million that former Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker received for 11 months of work, during which HP stock declined by over 40 percent, was worthy of the top prize,” said Michelle Leder, Footnoted founder and editor. “Most of us—not even in our dreams—could never imagine failing in such a big way and still being rewarded so richly.”

Editing by Alex Akesson
For HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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