Countrywide CEO to take lower payout

He's still going to walk away with a comfortable sum of money though it's not going to be as extravagant as initially planned thanks to public criticism. As for the failed CEOs of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, who accepted massive payouts based on shoddy business that has since been written down, no change and business as usual. Yes, they did have contracts though what kind of contract doesn't take bad business into consideration? If your bonanza payout is based on smoke-and-mirrors business, should that really be acceptable?