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Salary gesture scrutinized

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-03 07:49

Last year, Ma Mingzhe, chairman of the board and CEO of Ping An Insurance, took home a whopping salary of 66 million yuan even though his company incurred a 22.8 billion-yuan investment loss in Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch bank. He claims he will take nothing home this year. Is his promise a positive move? The following comments were posted on the website news.ifeng.com:

Responding to media fire on Ma Mingzhe's excessive salary last year, Ma has declared that this year he will not take a salary from Ping An. However, the sincerity of his move is doubtful.

Ma possesses a holding in Ping An, which guarantees a high income despite his zero-salary, and his excessive remuneration package last year has already made him a fat cat. The zero salary is just a public relations stunt. The contrast between his sky-high compensation last year and forgoing this year's also reveals he decides his own salary arbitrarily.

(China Daily 03/03/2009 page6)