The Wall Street Journal recently published further anecdotal evidence of the mixed messages that companies are receiving ... and giving ... about the expected upturn. While some 25% of companies reportedly expect more layoffs, about the same percentage think further layoffs are unlikely. Many companies continue to look to salary…
The New York Times reported recently that some companies, like Xerox, are changing the bonus structure to eliminate revenue growth as one of the criteria.
While the point is that growth is not the only important criteria … and some companies are attempting to substitute cash flow as a criterion … the value of the revenue measure is also that it is the easiest to measure and the least susceptible to manipulation. How many stories have we all heard (more…)
We're proud of the "Straight Talk. All the Time" mantra on this site. Jason Calacanis of Maholo.com and founder of Silicon Alley Reporter stays close to that line in his recent newsletter that BW republished. It describes his brutal experiences with the dot.com implosion and offers the hard cold facts…
<A recent WSJ story about cost-cutting focuses on measures taken to reduce the costs for current employees to forestall personnel cuts that business leaders fear will hurt their ultimate competitiveness. There are some interesting twists on several ideas. Agilent Technologies tried a novel approach by tying a portion of all…
You should read the transcript From Ken Lewis testimony before the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives. It is a reasoned discussion of Bank of America's performance and highlights several key points that we rarely read about: The US taxpayers will receive $2.8 billion in dividends this…
Business Week recently summarized a concept called a "bonus bank". In short, it is an incentive plan in which a significant portion of annual bonuses, perhaps 1/3, is set aside to be paid out over time, 3 years in the BW example, based on the continuing achievement of established benchmarks…
I've made several comments about executive pay on The Daily BULL, a favorite subject of our fine friends inside the beltway. As an aside, I'm reminded today that, in return, we need to shed more light on the extraordinary, self-indulgent fringe benefits enjoyed by members of Congress. Stay tuned for…
There's been an endless series of speeches and self-serving righteousness about executive compensation on Wall St., the value of golden parachutes and the egregious exit pay of chief executives.There's no doubt that there have been - and will be - excesses in executive compensation. This is also a "hot button"…
Those of you who get a chill up your spine when CEO compensation gets scalded, should light up at the news that 175 of top American CEO's lost over $50 billion as a result of the recent stock market decline. Advocates like me who promote pay for performance are also…