IndyMac's weird timing

There's probably some reasonable explanation, but Michelle Leder at footnoted.org wonders why IndyMac CEO Michael Perry recently signed a new employment agreement that's virtually identical to his old one. Contained in the company's 10Q, filing, the contract goes out to 2011 and has lots of the perks that a CEO might not want to advertise on the same day that the company reported a $202.7 million quarterly loss - five times bigger than what had been forecast in September. Perry’s base salary is a typical $1 million (he made $16 million last year, most of it from stock options). As for the perks, there's the travel (first class or by chartered or other private plane service where appropriate); club memberships (California Club, Annandale Golf Club, and Shady Canyon Golf Club; car allowance ("appropriate luxury automobile" with car insurance, maintenance and operating expenses); and financial planning (not to exceed $35,000). Oh, did we mention that Pasadena-based IndyMac has cut 1,547 jobs? Too bad they don't have access to Perry's financial planner.