Ron Sugar's cushy exit deal

He's no longer chief executive of Northrop, but Ronald Sugar is still making some nice money at the aerospace giant (in the process of moving from L.A. to Falls Church, Virginia). Under his newly signed, ahem, consulting deal, attached to the company's quarterly statement and reported by footnoted.com, Sugar will get $16,680 per month. It's a flat fee, which means he gets the full 16 grand even if he only works an hour each month. And the company has agreed to limit his load to a maximum of three days a month. If he needs to travel, it's first class.

It's not like Sugar needs the work after his long run at Northrop. His total compensation over the last three years alone worked out to $56 million, according to the company's latest proxy filing, including $157,719 in personal travel on company aircraft for last year alone. His company pensions -- he benefits under nine of them -- had a value of $51.7 million as of Dec. 31. Plus, he had accumulated another $11.3 million in IOUs from the company under its various deferred compensation plans.