Nice Work if You Can Get It

This from an article yesterday in a Norwegian newspaper: Cornel Riklin, who has been CEO of the Norwegian directory publisher Findexa for the past 11 months, is leaving his post now that the company is part of Eniro AB, which already has a CEO. Riklin’s good-bye package totals 47.2 million Norwegian crowns, which works out to about US$7 million. That kind of money will dry up a lot of good-bye tears.

Riklin is a respected executive, and my colleague Neal Polachek was very impressed by his presentation at the Yellow Pages Today conference last month in Vienna. But US$7 million for 11 months’ work is an impressive payout, to say the least.

Eniro, the leading directory publisher in neighboring Sweden, has named longtime Findexa executive Wenche Holen to the post of managing director of Eniro’s Norway operations, which include the former Findexa plus Eniro’s existing online-only properties. With her elevation, Holen becomes one of the most prominent female directory publishing executives in the world.