Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 5 January 2017

Tillerson leaving Exxon with $180 million retirement package

BERNARD CONDON an employee accepting a the White House and will
DAVID KOENIG government job. turn over his company to
AP Business Writers To avoid violating federal his adult sons and dissolve
NEW YORK (AP) — Rex Til- rules, business executives his charitable foundation.
lerson will get a $180 million moving into top govern- Critics say that could leave
retirement package from ment jobs have often sold Trump vulnerable to foreign
Exxon Mobil Corp. if he is shares and created trusts governments that could try
confirmed as President- as Tillerson is doing. This to influence him by reward-
elect Donald Trump’s sec- also gives them freedom ing or punishing his busi-
retary of state. to weigh in on policy with- ness interests in their coun-
Tillerson will give up more out constantly consulting tries. They say he should go
than 2 million Exxon shares lawyers about the possible much further and liquidate
he would have received impact on their personal fi- his assets and put the pro-
over the next 10 years. In nances. ceeds in a blind trust.
exchange, the company Henry Paulson, who was Because of the way Tiller-
will make a cash payment In this Friday, March 27, 2015, file photo, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex CEO of Goldman Sachs son’s compensation is be-
equal to the value of those Tillerson delivers remarks on the release of a report by the Na- when President George ing dispensed, he will give
shares to a trust to be over- tional Petroleum Council on oil drilling in the Arctic, in Washing- W. Bush nominated him up about $7 million com-
seen by a third party. ton. as Treasury secretary, sold pared with what he would
Exxon said Wednesday that Associated Press about $500 million worth have been paid if he re-
Tillerson has already prom- global operations, owner- Exxon spelled out the ar- of Goldman stock. His pre- tired in March as planned
ised the State Department ship of Exxon stock could rangement with Tillerson in decessor, former Alcoa before Trump announced
that he will sell another severely limit Tillerson’s ac- a regulatory filing Wednes- chairman Paul O’Neill, sold his cabinet nomination. Til-
611,000 shares he currently tions as the nation’s chief day with the Securities and his stock and options after lerson stepped down as
owns, worth about $55 mil- diplomat. Exchange Commission. first saying he should have CEO over the weekend.
lion at Wednesday’s price, Tillerson’s move comes as Edwin Williamson, a former been be able to keep Under the agreement, if Til-
if confirmed. His Senate pressure mounts on Trump State Department legal ad- them. lerson returns to the oil and
confirmation hearing be- to make clear how he viser who has reviewed the Like presidents, vice presi- gas industry within 10 years,
gins next week. would separate himself agreement, said that Tiller- dents are exempt from the money in the trust will
Tillerson’s selection raised from his company. Presi- son agreed to put the cash federal ethics rules. After be paid out to a charity
potential conflict-of-interest dents are exempt from he gets from Exxon in a trust becoming vice president chosen by the controlling
issues because Exxon has federal ethics rules, though that will invest only in Trea- in 2001, Dick Cheney re- trustee.
business interests around most recent holders of the sury securities and diversi- ceived payments and Tillerson began his career
the globe, including Russia. office have sold off their fi- fied mutual funds. held stock options from at Exxon as a production
Putting his retirement nest nancial holdings and put “They have eliminated any- his former oil-industry em- engineer straight out of the
egg into a trust is intended them in trusts as if the rules thing that runs afoul of the ployer, Halliburton Co. The University of Texas at Austin
to ease concerns that Tiller- did apply to them. conflicts-of-interest rule,” arrangement became a in 1975.
son could make decisions Trump has said he would said Williamson, a lawyer controversy because Hal- He replaced longtime CEO
as secretary of state that hand management con- at Sullivan & Cromwell in liburton was a major de- Lee Raymond in 2006 and
would financially help him- trol of his business to his two Washington. fense contractor. led the company during
self or his former associates. adult sons, along with ex- Democratic Sens. Tam- Trump operates a sprawl- one of the most turbulent
Federal ethics rules do not ecutives, but has given no my Baldwin of Wisconsin ing global business with periods in its history, includ-
require government offi- indication he plans to sell and Elizabeth Warren of real estate holdings that ing its most profitable years
cials to sell off their invest- his ownership interest in his Massachusetts, however, aren’t as easily divested as but also the 2008 financial
ments but they must recuse company. called Tillerson’s payout stock. In addition to hand- crisis and the slump in oil
themselves from matters Tillerson has been CEO egregious. Baldwin is pro- ing over control to his adult prices that began in mid-
that would affect those in- and chairman of the Irving, posing to ban corporate son, he has said he won’t 2014 that sharply cut into
vestments. Given Exxon’s Texas, oil giant since 2006. payments that are tied to make new deals while in Exxon’s earnings.q

Trump names Wall Street lawyer Cla ton as SEC chairman

MARCY GORDON clude enforcing the scores and billionaire investor Wil- He worked on a multitude
AP Business Writer of rules already written by bur Ross to head the Com- of deals bringing compa-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pres- the agency under the 2010 merce Department. nies public, notably the
ident-elect Donald Trump law that reshaped financial Clayton would succeed 2014 U.S. stock market
on Wednesday chose a regulation after the 2008-09 Mary Jo White, a former debut of Chinese e-com-
Wall Street attorney with crisis. federal prosecutor who merce giant Alibaba — the
experience in corporate The law, known as Dodd- also had worked as a cor- biggest IPO ever.
mergers and public stock Frank, has long been porate attorney before be- In announcing the appoint-
launches as his nominee to scorned by Republicans ing named SEC chair by ment, Trump’s transition
head the Securities and Ex- and is high on Trump’s tar- President Barack Obama. team said Clayton will en-
change Commission. get list. Clayton played a legal courage investment, “while
Trump announced his nom- He is the latest Trump role in a raft of major deals. providing strong oversight
ination of Jay Clayton, a choice with Wall Street Some of the biggest came of Wall Street and related
partner in the law firm Sul- connections. in the panicky days of 2008: industries.” This image provided by Sul-
livan and Cromwell, as His nominee for Treasury He represented Goldman “Robust accountability will livan & Cromwell shows Jay
chairman of the indepen- secretary, Steven Mnuchin, in billionaire Warren Buf- be a hallmark of his ten- Clayton in this 2008 photo in
dent agency that oversees is a former Goldman execu- fett’s $5 billion investment ure atop the SEC, and the New York. President-elect
Wall Street and the finan- tive. Trump also has tapped in the Wall Street bank, and financial security of the Donald Trump wants Wall
cial markets. Gary Cohn, until recently the teetering Bear Stearns American people will be his Street lawyer Clayton to be
If confirmed by the Senate, Goldman’s president, to be in its rescue sale to JPMor- top priority,” the statement chairman of the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
his responsibilities will in- his top economic adviser, gan Chase. said.q Associated Press