WaMu Execs Get Six-Figure Bonuses for Last Year's, Um, Performance

These are, you'd think, the pertinent numbers about Washington Mutual's 2007.

Stock price at start of 2007: 45.40

Stock price at end of 2007: 13.07

But apparently the 71% drop in stock price is not among the criteria by which Washington Mutual judges its executives, because those executives will get six-figure bonuses for last year, reports Drew DeSilver of the Seattle Times.

Chief Operating Officer Stephen Rotella gets $912,000 for chiefly operating WaMu to its first annual loss since 1984.

Top executives also get millions of stock options, which will only vest if the stock price goes up--unless those execs engineer a sale of the company, at which point the options would vest automatically. Gulp.

"Outrageous," compensation expert Fred Whittlesey tells DeSilver. "All shareholders should hit the roof when they see what they've done here."

Rewarding terrible performance with excellent pay is a troubling trend in this town--just last week the Mariners gave the worst pitcher in franchise history a six-figure raise.

Though we suppose it's only troubling to those of us who aren't getting ladlefuls from the gravy train. If you're some WaMu exec's personal yacht designer, good times are on the way.

Photo by Seattle Daily Photo