ABC News: Costco CEO Finds Pro-Worker Means Profitability

ABC News: Costco CEO Finds Pro-Worker Means Profitability:

"...But the most remarkable thing about Sinegal is his salary — $350,000 a year, a fraction of the millions most large corporate CEOs make.

'I figured that if I was making something like 12 times more than the typical person working on the floor, that that was a fair salary,' he said.

Of course, as a co-founder of the company, Sinegal owns a lot of Costco's stock — more than $150 million worth. He's rich, but only on paper.

Nell Minow, editor and founder of the Corporate Library ... said she was shocked to discover that Sinegal's employment contract is only a page long.

'Of the 2,000 companies in our database, he has the single shortest CEO employment contract. And the only one, which specifically says, he can be 'terminated for cause.'

Sinegal admits that 'paying high wages [to his employees] is contrary to conventional wisdom.'

Analysts seem to be the only critics of Costco and Sinegal. They think the company could make even more money if it paid its workers less — like Wal-Mart does.

Sinegal is unfazed by his critics. 'Wall Street is in the business of making money between now and next Tuesday,' he said. 'We're in the business of building an organization, an institution that we hope will be here 50 years from now. And paying good wages and keeping your people working with you is very good business.'"