"NEW YORK, Aug. 9 -- Hollywood super-agent Michael S. Ovitz spent 14 disastrous months as the No. 2 executive at Walt Disney Co., taking $140 million in severance when he was forced out, or $10 million for each month on the job. On Tuesday, a Delaware judge ruled that the severance package, while 'breathtaking,' was perfectly legal and that directors did not violate their duty to protect shareholders when they approved it."

RONALD ALLEN'S 'GOLDEN PARACHUTE'

Elements of the 1997 severance package:

• $500,000-per-year consulting contract for up to eight years, paid quarterly in advance ($4 million total).
• $4,586,515 lump-sum cash for severance payment, health benefits and incentive awards that were to be paid for 1997.
• $765,600-per-year pension, starting in 1997.
• Vesting of 298,000 stock options and restricted stock. He netted $6.3 million in the 1997 fiscal year after acquiring 89,000 shares, with remaining stock options then valued at $13 million.
• $210,000 in legal fees to prepare his retirement agreement.
• $25,000 per year fee as "advisory director" on Delta's board.
• Flight privileges for life for Allen and his family.
• An office and a full-time secretary in Buckhead's 24-floor Monarch Tower for 10 years. First-year cost was $91,099.
• $408,766 initial cost to design, construct and furnish the office.
• Membership for 10 years in the Commerce Club of Atlanta.
• Membership for 10 years in the East Lake Golf Club, as long as Delta maintains a corporate membership.
• Company car.
• $25,565 for residential security systems.

In early January, Bush and his baseball partners hit a home run, selling the Texas Rangers to Thomas Hicks for $250 million. Bush himself hit a grand slam. For his 1.8 percent share of the club -- which cost him $605,000 -- the Governor gets paid between $10 and $14 million. That is a return of up to twenty-three times his original investment -- in less than nine years.