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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
Proxy Perks
By Michelle Leder
March. 24, 2008
We're deep in the midst of proxy season right now - that time of year when the
haves are separated from the have mores. And while much of the attention is focused
on executive pay - stories like this one on Alltel CEO Scott Ford's $141 million
payday in 2007 after the company was taken private are pretty routine - it's the
perks, in all of their weird glory, that I find much more interesting because
they tend to provide more insight into the company, or at least the people running
them.
For example, ArcSight, which went public in late February, disclosed in an
SEC filing that in addition to covering the cost of housing CEO Robert Shaw
in the San Francisco Bay area where the company is based and flying him between
his two other homes in Montana and Cabo San Lucas, it also pays for Shaw's membership
to an undisclosed yacht club - perhaps the only time the words "yacht club"
appear in an SEC filing.
At the Bank of New York, Senior Vice Chairman Steven G. Elliott received nearly
$150,000 for not spending time in his company-paid apartment in New York City,
which seems almost too good to be true - getting paid not to live in what we're
guessing is a pretty nice apartment.
At Playboy, a company subsidiary spent $400,000 last year to provide food,
housing and what it described in the filing as "personal benefits"
to Hugh Hefner's three live in girlfriends, Holly, Bridget and Kendra, who also
star in the E! reality TV series, "The Girls Next Door."
Then there's the more practical perks, like the nearly $90,000 that Boeing
spent to get a backup generator installed at CEO W. James McNerney Jr.'s house.
The proxy noted that this was done for "business continuity purposes,"
which kind of makes sense. Still, given what backup generators cost, McNerney's
seems as if it might be powerful enough for a small city, instead of a large
house.
All of this is much more interesting, insightful even, than mere pay, even
when that pay has lots of zeros attached to it.
Email this article
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
Proxy Perks
By Michelle Leder
March. 24, 2008
We're deep in the midst of proxy season right now - that time of year when the
haves are separated from the have mores. And while much of the attention is focused
on executive pay - stories like this one on Alltel CEO Scott Ford's $141 million
payday in 2007 after the company was taken private are pretty routine - it's the
perks, in all of their weird glory, that I find much more interesting because
they tend to provide more insight into the company, or at least the people running
them.
For example, ArcSight, which went public in late February, disclosed in an SEC filing that in addition to covering the cost of housing CEO Robert Shaw in the San Francisco Bay area where the company is based and flying him between his two other homes in Montana and Cabo San Lucas, it also pays for Shaw's membership to an undisclosed yacht club - perhaps the only time the words "yacht club" appear in an SEC filing.
At the Bank of New York, Senior Vice Chairman Steven G. Elliott received nearly $150,000 for not spending time in his company-paid apartment in New York City, which seems almost too good to be true - getting paid not to live in what we're guessing is a pretty nice apartment.
At Playboy, a company subsidiary spent $400,000 last year to provide food, housing and what it described in the filing as "personal benefits" to Hugh Hefner's three live in girlfriends, Holly, Bridget and Kendra, who also star in the E! reality TV series, "The Girls Next Door."
Then there's the more practical perks, like the nearly $90,000 that Boeing spent to get a backup generator installed at CEO W. James McNerney Jr.'s house. The proxy noted that this was done for "business continuity purposes," which kind of makes sense. Still, given what backup generators cost, McNerney's seems as if it might be powerful enough for a small city, instead of a large house.
All of this is much more interesting, insightful even, than mere pay, even when that pay has lots of zeros attached to it.
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism