Black Fortune 500 CEOs in Short Supply

How nice? Their compensation jumped 27% to 40%

(NEWSER) - Today, in Depressing Coincidences in Journalism, we're greeted with the news that nearly 50% of Americans are living below the poverty level or very close to it—and the news that America's top CEOs saw their 2010 pay jump a crazy 27% to 40%. The latter revelation comes via the Guardian , which reports on an exclusive review of data released by GMI Ratings, in a survey of 2,647 US companies. Among its findings: More»

Spendthrift John Thain gets hands on new troubled company

(NEWSER) - The CEO who spent $1.2 million renovating his office and arranged $3.6 billion in executive bonuses while his company, Merrill Lynch, was circling the toilet bowl, has just been named CEO of CIT Group. John Thain rises to the top of a public company again a year after he was jettisoned by Bank of America after it acquired Merrill Lynch. Thain inherits a firm struggling since former Merrill colleague and ex-CEO Jeffrey Peek immersed the company in subprime mortage lending before its bankruptcy. More»

First female-to-female handoff at big firm; first black woman in role

(NEWSER) - The announcement that Ursula Burns will replace Anne Mulcahy as head of Xerox is brimming with historical significance, writes Patricia Sellers in Fortune. Not only is it the first woman-to-woman CEO handoff in Fortune 500 history, but Burns will be the first black woman to head a Fortune 500 company. It proves the “Queen Bee” era—in which businesswomen eschewed helping other women, afraid there wasn’t enough room for all of them—is over. More»

Fired Merill CEO tries to 'set the record straight' about $3.6B payout

(NEWSER) - In his first lengthy interview since being pushed out as CEO of Merrill Lynch, John Thain tells the Wall Street Journal that Bank of America—which acquired Merrill in September—is lying about its involvement in the $3.6 billion in bonus payouts that made Thain the poster boy for corporate greed. “Getting fired is one thing,” Thain said. “But nobody has the right to say things that they know aren't true.” More»

(AP) - AOL is getting a new CEO. Tim Armstrong, a senior vice president at Google, will replace Randy Falco, who took the job in late 2006. Falco is leaving along with president and COO Ron Grant. The shakeup could mean that a Time Warner spin-off of AOL is more likely. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said Armstrong would be "helpful in helping Time Warner determine the optimal structure for AOL." More»