O'Neal's $161 Million Merrill Payout May Spur `Say-on-Pay' Bill

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd says Merrill Lynch & Co.'s $161.5 million exit package for former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stan O'Neal may revive efforts in Congress to give shareholders more power to curb CEO salaries.

O'Neal shouldn't be rewarded for poor performance, Dodd said in an interview in Washington, adding that his committee may proceed with legislation aimed at capping excessive executive pay.

``There's a lot of controversy, mostly on the other side,'' said Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, referring to Republicans. ``We'll try to get unanimity where we can. But there's a possibility we'll move on it.''

A bill to give investors a non-binding vote to protest excessive compensation was approved by the House of Representatives in April, almost four months after Home Depot Inc.'s ex-CEO Robert Nardelli got a severance package valued at $210 million. O'Neal left Merrill earlier this week with $161.5 million in securities and retirement funds. Merrill's board refused to give him a severance package following a record $8.4 billion writedown of subprime mortgages.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, responding to complaints from investors, adopted rules in July 2006 to make executive compensation more transparent to shareholders. In the Senate, Dodd will need to pick up some Republican votes to get the so-called say-on-pay bill moving again.

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