Finger-Pointing Hits NYSE Board

Glass Lewis rates the executive compensation practices of many public companies, comparing the amount executives receive with the company's financial and stock performance. Of the companies on which Langone serves as a director, ChoicePoint received the highest rating, a "C." The other companies received a "D" or an "F."

Home Depot, which was among those with an "F" grade, saw its stock price fall 58% last year and 63% over the last three years, notes Taxin. Compared to a peer group of 96 other companies, Home Depot's stock price performance is near the bottom of the barrel, falling in the 3rd percentile.

But Home Depot paid CEO Bob Nardelli a package worth $34.5 million last year. The compensation packages of the company's top five highest-paid employees totaled $73.7 million last year. Those amounts place executive pay at Home Depot near the top of its peer group, in the 98th percentile, according to Taxin.

The other companies on whose boards Langone serves have similar records, Taxin said.

"For some reason [Langone] seems be a compensation committee favorite," Taxin said. "We think we know why: He tends to overpay people."

Of course, not everyone is targeting Langone. Despite calling for Grasso's resignation on Tuesday, California State Treasurer Paul Angelides declined to call for the resignation of NYSE board members.

Board members should certainly be reviewing their decisions and their decision-making process regarding Grasso's compensation, said David Ruder, a professor of law at Northwestern University and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. But forcing Grasso or anyone else to resign over the matter is taking the affair too far, he said.