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Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
Online Seminars
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
Hooked on Kindle
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
Under the Magnifying Glass: Security Costs Lie in the Proxy Statement
By Michelle Leder
July 28, 2006
Just how safe is your favorite CEO? Very, judging by some of the disclosures in recent proxy statements. To be sure, CEOs and other top executives need lots of security these days, given the uncertainty of interacting with cranky shareholders. And, no doubt that some CEOs need more security than other CEOs. But why would someone like Jeff Bezos, who runs Amazon.com (AMZN), need over $1 million worth of security while the entire executive team at Microsoft (MSFT) spent less than a quarter of that?
In a footnote to the proxy that Amazon filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission recently, the company says that it spent $1.1 million on "security arrangements for Mr. Bezos in addition to security arrangements provided at business facilities and for business travel."
Presumably that includes the executives' use of the corporate jet, which the company doesn't provide details on. But the $1.1 million still seems a bit steep, particularly when compared with the cost of providing these services at nearby Microsoft. In their proxy (filed last September) Microsoft noted that while it didn't include the cost of security in its summary compensation table, the cost of providing those services "were less than $50K for any executive". That includes Bill Gates, who presumably needs lots of security, given his status as the world's wealthiest individual. Finding this information for your favorite CEO is usually as easy as reading the footnotes to the summary compensation table. Many companies are disclosing a lot more information on all sorts of perks, including security costs.
Surprisingly, the amount of money Amazon spent on providing security for Bezos is more than twice the amount that Starbucks (SBUX), which is also based in Seattle, spent on providing security services to its CEO, Howard Schultz.
Are Seattle-area CEOs the only ones spending big bucks on their security details? Hardly. Texas-based Dell Computers recently disclosed that it had spent close to $1 million providing security to its namesake Chairman Michael Dell.
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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
Under the Magnifying Glass: Security Costs Lie in the Proxy Statement
By Michelle Leder
July 28, 2006
Just how safe is your favorite CEO? Very, judging by some of the disclosures in recent proxy statements. To be sure, CEOs and other top executives need lots of security these days, given the uncertainty of interacting with cranky shareholders. And, no doubt that some CEOs need more security than other CEOs. But why would someone like Jeff Bezos, who runs Amazon.com (AMZN), need over $1 million worth of security while the entire executive team at Microsoft (MSFT) spent less than a quarter of that?
In a footnote to the proxy that Amazon filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission recently, the company says that it spent $1.1 million on "security arrangements for Mr. Bezos in addition to security arrangements provided at business facilities and for business travel."
Presumably that includes the executives' use of the corporate jet, which the company doesn't provide details on. But the $1.1 million still seems a bit steep, particularly when compared with the cost of providing these services at nearby Microsoft. In their proxy (filed last September) Microsoft noted that while it didn't include the cost of security in its summary compensation table, the cost of providing those services "were less than $50K for any executive". That includes Bill Gates, who presumably needs lots of security, given his status as the world's wealthiest individual. Finding this information for your favorite CEO is usually as easy as reading the footnotes to the summary compensation table. Many companies are disclosing a lot more information on all sorts of perks, including security costs.
Surprisingly, the amount of money Amazon spent on providing security for Bezos is more than twice the amount that Starbucks (SBUX), which is also based in Seattle, spent on providing security services to its CEO, Howard Schultz.
Are Seattle-area CEOs the only ones spending big bucks on their security details? Hardly. Texas-based Dell Computers recently disclosed that it had spent close to $1 million providing security to its namesake Chairman Michael Dell.
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism