Sunday, September 18, 2011
For all the talk about bad communication among fellow co-owners, Bill Neukom's exit as head of the San Francisco Giants came down to management style and money - specifically the size of the compensation package he felt he was entitled to for heading the organization.
The issue of just how much salary, bonus and other compensation and shares of the team part-owner-turned-CEO Neukom was entitled to was never finalized even after three years at the helm, those in the know said. And the issue started well before the team won the World Series.
"Everybody just thought it would be worked out after he took the job," said one source familiar with the team's inner workings.
Neukom, who did not return calls for comment, reportedly felt his work was worth millions more than his fellow owners were willing to pay. It just became a recurring sore spot - eventually coloring every decision the team made.
"Some guy worth a billion dollars shouldn't be soaking an enterprise ... and if we're paying Bill $10 million a year (in total compensation), we can't put that into the team," said one executive committee member who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the matter.
Still, the committee member said, the money issue might have been resolved had it not been for a perception that Neukom had overstepped his role as managing partner.
"His style was very different from (team president) Larry Baer's and others who run the business, and it started causing problems," said the source.
"I think Bill started to meddle in stuff more in the weeds than people anticipated, but then wouldn't resolve any of it. ... He wanted to put in the hours of the chairman, but have the input of a CEO - but then decisions stopped getting made."
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