Footnoted’s worst footnote of 2012

Here at footnoted we do things a bit differently than the Oscars or any of those other silly awards shows. Rather than make you sit through endless recaps and teary-eyed speeches, we’re just going to announce the winner: General Electric (GE), which won the coveted worst footnote of 2012 award for this disclosure filed back in July. In our totally unscientific survey, 40% of you chose that footnote.

As we footnoted at the time, GE decided to give outgoing executive John Krenicki, who announced his retirement as part of a larger series of changes at the Connecticut-based company, a pretty nice going-away gift: $89,000 a month until Krenicki turns 60. There were other goodies as well, but the $89K a month was the big-ticket item.

Granted, Krenicki had been at GE for 29 years and was apparently a top contender for current CEO Jeff Immelt’s job. Still, $89,000 a month for the next 10 years is hardly chump change, even for GE.