The Rich Get Richer   

THEN-TIMES MIRROR Chairman and CEO Mark H. Willes reportedly broke into tears after his board of directors agreed in March to a Tribune Co. takeover of the publishing empire he was hired to lead. But who¹s crying now? Certainly not he, unless it's all the way to the bank.
Consider what he takes with him: $970,000 a year for life (he's 59), half of which is payable to his wife for the rest of her life if he dies first. Even before the lifetime payments begin, Willes keeps this year's salary and bonus package equal to $2.2 million, plus $9.2 million in severance and his 401K plan. Wait, there's more: stock worth upwards of $50 million; and, for seven years, a new fully furnished office in Glendale, California; a secretary; and financial counseling--all at the Tribune Co.'s expense.
Despite this embarrassment of riches, Willes took much of what was in his 6th floor Times Mirror office, according to employees--the finely appointed leather chairs, a bookshelf, the solid wood desk. He even had the credenza carted away, exposing four holes in the nothing-says-rich-guy-better wood paneled walls. One of his assistants was present when workers carried off file cabinets and flats of bottled water and other beverages and a small refrigerator from the communal coffee room, according to an employee who worked on the same floor.
Willes did leave behind his driver, whom the company had paid to chauffeur him around Los Angeles in a company-owned BMW 740 worth about $70,000, or more than the annual pay of most Los Angeles Times copy editors. (He also left the car.) Not a bad haul for a guy who worked five years, long enough to make the company ripe for the multibillion-dollar Tribune takeover.
Exactly how much Willes' total severance is worth is unclear. In July, the Times put the figure at $64.5 million, or 25 percent of Times Mirror's annual '99 earnings--excluding the lifetime payments. His package was almost double Mattel's Jill E. Barad's $38.5 million departure deal, making Willes Southern California's highest compensated chief executive, riches which came to him because he was ³canned,² the Times reported.
Who arrived at the $64.5 million figure? The Times attributed it to the consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide, which provided a report the paper published comparing executive pay. But Watson Wyatt "did not crunch [the Willes] numbers," says Dan Wetzel, the analyst who prepared the report for the Times, even though Willes' pay topped the chart. "That [$64.5 million] number always seemed high to me." Actually, the numbers came from a Times story in March by James Bates and Michael Hiltzik; Hiltzik says the figure is "based on public records and figures [Willes] provided."
Willes has nothing more to say, says Martha Goldstein, the former Times Mirror spokeswoman, current Times employee and designated responder to requests made to interview Willes. "Mark Willes' official response is that he has decided not to give any interviews on Times Mirror now that he has left the company. In other words, he is not going to comment," she said in response to several phone calls and e-mails. "With respect to his office, his separation package provides for a fully-functioning office. With respect to the driver and car, the driver's services ended concurrent with Mark Willes' separation from the company. Willes did not take any cars with him when he left the company."
He did leave behind some bad feelings, though. "To get that kind of severance for five years of work after he turned the place upside down--it's breathtaking," says Associate Editor Narda Zacchino. "When people here heard about it, they were shocked. It's all anyone was talking about for weeks." Reporter Hiltzik says criticizing Willes for what he took is "a sideshow to bad feelings." Willes "was well-meaning," he says. "He just kept walking into potholes and didn't know what to do about it. He didn't have the experience as a newspaper executive to know how to avoid them."