Boston Globe (October 8)
The Globe points to “a distressing pattern for executive pay.” It always goes up. “In the economic-meltdown year of 2009, CEO salaries at publicly traded companies based in Massachusetts rose by a cushy 8 percent, even as many of the companies suffered disappointing returns.” In the future, the CEOs will ask for another raise when profits improve. Executive pay has become detached from executive performance. The Globe calls on shareholders to exercise their say-on-pay votes to correct the situation.
Tags: Executive pay, Say on pay, Shareholders
New York Times (August 2)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Citigroup $75 million for misleading shareholders. “Too big to fail” author Andrew Sorkin notes the irony. This settlement punishes the shareholders, the very “same people who were arguably defrauded by its [Citigroup’s] failure to disclose its exposure to subprime mortgages in the first place.” The SEC admits this is “awkward,” but claims corporate settlements best encourage companies to obey disclosure regulations. Former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt has a different opinion, “a class of innocent shareholders is being asked to pay for the misconduct of corporate officers.”
Tags: Citigroup, Disclosure, Fine, SEC, Shareholders
