CEO of drug distributor sets new record for the biggest possible retirement package as his pension comes in at a cool $159m

John Hammergren of McKesson, a drug company, could have taken a $159m pension package if he left by the end of the last corporate filing period

Rupert Murdoch is highest-paid current executive with $73.9m



A drug company executive has set a new record for the biggest retirement pay package in U.S. corporate history, prompting experts to brand his remuneration package ‘excessive’.

John Hammergren, the CEO drug distributor McKesson, would have received $159million on top of his salary, which has risen to more than $50million a year, if he had left the company on March 31.

The Wall Street Journal reported the outlandish bonus, saying that in their latest corporate filing, McKesson disclosed that had Mr Hammergren voluntarily departed on March 31 this year, his pension would have been $159m.

Pay day: John Hammergren would receive a $159m retirement package if he left McKesson Corp. last month

Big moves: The drug company waived some standard operating procedures resulting in the massive potential payout

McKesson, a drug distribution company, normally imposes an early retirement penalty on executives who quit before they turn 62, but they waived that in the case of Mr Hammergren, who is just 54.

This concession alone meant that his pension was 28 per cent higher than it should have been.

The Journal cites Equilar, a company that examines executive pay rates, as saying that over the past seven years, Mr Hammergren took home more than $355m in cash and realized stocks.



Mr Hammergren has spent a long time with the company and joined in 1996, meaning he has 17 years of service.

He became chief executive in 2001 and under his tenure the company’s stock price has more than tripled.

Despite this, James Reda, a New York executive-compensation consultant, said that he was staggered at the package Mr Hammergren was entitled to.

Top contenders: The next highest pension record holder was Edward Whitacre (left) who would have gotten $84.7m in 2006 when if he left AT&T that year. Rupert Murdoch (right) comes next, as his pension package is expected to be $73.9million

He said: ‘I’ve never seen a pension that high’.

The second-largest retirement bonus on record for a current executive is that of the former CEO of AT&T back in 2006, was then-CEO Edward Whitacre who would have received $84.7million if he retired that year. He retired a year later in 2007.