Three months after Glenn F. Tilton joined United Airlines as chief executive in 2002, he took the carrier into bankruptcy. Now he is about to cap his eight-year tenure by merging United with Continental Airlines.
Mr. Tilton, a former Texas oilman, is not popular with United’s rank-and-file workers. He wiped out pensions during the bankruptcy, accepted large pay bonuses and held a tough line with unions. But in the Chicago business community, he has built an admiring following.
The Continental deal will most likely keep the majority of United’s 650 headquarters employees at its Wacker Drive offices, and nearly 3,000 employees will soon occupy a new operations center in Willis Tower. Those jobs and others could have been at risk had Chicago not remained the merged company’s headquarters.
Mr. Tilton earned $3.9 million last year, about double his pay in 2008. He’ll earn a fat bonus for the deal — which is fair enough, considering its value to Chicago.
I get it that jobs are better than the absence of jobs, but $3.9 million? What kind of tax obligations is the company shedding for retaining these jobs?