Mr. Dirty-Clean Events Analyst Marge Schwietering, frankly, must have had a lot of fun putting these together from a couple of days ago. We thought these would be easy winners of the Quotation of the Week Competition, well, they are, actually, but Rex Tillerson raced in with a very close second, of a very different [...]
Archive | June, 2012
GMI Ratings Governance Update | Research In Motion Limited
June 29, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Daily Viewpoint, Flash Reports
Research In Motion Limited is delaying the launch of its new Blackberry 10, suffering worse than expected sales, and letting go of 5,000 people. While the stock plunged more than 18% on Friday after the news, maybe investors should not have been so surprised. The troubled company has been and remains at risk of announcing [...]
June 28, 2012: Combined CEO/Chairmen
June 28, 2012 in News and Opinions
June 28, 2012: A GMI Ratings report shows that combined CEO/chairmen cost more, present higher ESG and accounting risk, and provide lower long-term shareholder returns than if the positions are separated. New York, June 28, 2012 – GMI Ratings, the corporate governance, accounting and ESG research and rating firm, released today a new report that shows that [...]
GMI Ratings Governance Update| The Talbots, Inc.
June 28, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Flash Reports
After The Talbots, Inc. finally agreed to a lower acquisition bid from the private equity firm Sycamore Partners, the struggling women’s clothing store said its executives will get millions if the deal closes and shareholders approve the farewell packages. Sycamore made a $3.00 per share bid on December 6, 2011. Talbots nonetheless refused within weeks, [...]
June 28, 2012: Globe and Mail
June 28, 2012 in GMI In the News
June 28, 2012: Separate roles for CEO and chairman saves cash: report (The Globe and Mail)
“Dude, I owe you big time”: $450M Fine for Barclays for Doing its Job
June 28, 2012 in Daily Viewpoint, News and Opinions, Regulation, Scandals
By Paul Hodgson – CCO and Senior Research Associate We are facing yet more revelations that banks are out to make money. Barclays Bank, and what sounds like every single other major global bank, has been manipulating LIBOR (the London Interbank Offered Rate) either to give the impression that the bank was stronger than it [...]
NPR: Paul Hodgson on News Corp Split
June 28, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Daily Viewpoint
NPRs Morning Edition: GMI’s Paul Hodgson on News Corp’s corporate governance.
Simon Stays: Retaining the already retained at Simon Property
June 28, 2012 in CEO Pay, Daily Viewpoint
By Scott Patterson – Compensation Analyst Manager Thanks to an employment agreement effective July 6, 2011 there is a very good chance David Simon will be celebrating his 25th anniversary as CEO of Simon Property Group in 2019. The new contract has provided Mr. Simon with millions of reasons to stay on with the company [...]
June 27, 2012: NPR
June 27, 2012 in GMI In the News
June 27, 2012: Murdoch Considers Split For News Corp. (NPR)
Nell Minow on CFO Network: Short Term vs Long Term
June 27, 2012 in Video
Featured on WSJ Live, GMI director Nell Minow speaks with Dennis Berman about how public companies try to balance short term demands of the market while trying to build long term value.
GMI Ratings Governance Issue | Cisco Systems, Inc.
June 27, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Daily Viewpoint, Flash Reports
Cisco Systems, Inc. lost its key acquisitions executive, Ned Hooper. After laying off thousands of people and announcing plans to streamline its operations in 2011, the Santa Clara computer networking company has continued buying up new investments in recent months. As the business grapples with the resulting chaos, its financial statements remain an uncertain hodgepodge [...]
June 26, 2012: CFO Journal
June 26, 2012 in GMI In the News
June 26, 2012: Nell Minow Says Governance Has a Long Way to Go (CFO Journal)
GMI Ratings Governance Issue | Global banks
June 26, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Daily Viewpoint, Flash Reports
Moody’s Investors Service downgraded 28 Spanish banks on Monday and 15 global ones last week. Many of these companies’ managers are still struggling to improve their governance, which contributes to doubts about the strength of their businesses. The New York ratings agency cut its long-term debt and deposit ratings on Spanish banks by one to [...]
Facebook adds a female director to the board – sort of
June 26, 2012 in Board Diversity, Daily Viewpoint, News and Opinions
By Paul Hodgson – CCO and Senior Research Associate Facebook’s response to criticism that its board was, as GMI Ratings founder Nell Minow is fond of saying, male, pale and stale, has been to appoint Sheryl Sandberg to the board. There are a number of problems with this offered solution. First, one woman on the [...]
GMI Ratings Governance Issue | Groupon, Inc.
June 25, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Daily Viewpoint, Flash Reports
Groupon, Inc.’s managers might celebrate that the daily deal website’s shares gained more than 4% of their value last week, after Morgan Stanley vouched for them with a ratings upgrade announcement. But the stock price’s more than 50% decline during the year to date underscores the importance of corporate governance. More than a year since [...]
June 24, 2012: Chicago Tribune
June 24, 2012 in GMI In the News
June 24, 2012: Groupon, in banning media at shareholders meeting, ends up silencing itself (Chicago Tribune)
Small Print
June 22, 2012 in Daily Viewpoint, Small Print
By Paul Hodgson – CCO and Senior Research Associate Dimon in the Rough, Part 2 Events Team Leader Mark Magee and Compensation Analyst Ashley Kotzur found these quotations for the second edition of Dimon in the Rough here and here from first day of testimony on June 13th. “While this does not reduce the losses [...]
GMI Ratings Governance Update | Oracle Corp.
June 22, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Daily Viewpoint, Flash Reports
Oracle Corp. on Thursday confirmed that a key executive quit, a day after news hit that the California software company’s CEO Larry Ellison bought himself an island in Hawaii. The indicators of high governance risk at Oracle continue developing. On Tuesday GMI had noted news reports that Keith Block, Oracle’s executive vice president of North [...]
GMI Ratings Governance Issue | Navistar International Corp
June 21, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Flash Reports
Navistar International Corp.’s CEO Daniel C. Ustian is battling the threat of investors wresting away the truck and engine maker, and news hit this Thursday that his team got fined by the Environmental Protection Agency. Investors have had warnings for years that Navistar’s shares come with high corporate governance risk. The EPA is fining Navistar [...]
SEC Issues Compensation Consultant Rules
June 21, 2012 in Daily Viewpoint, News and Opinions, Regulation
By Paul Hodgson – CCO and Senior Research Associate Yesterday, the SEC announced new rules governing the use of compensation advisers and the independence and role of the compensation committee of the board. Falling short of mandating the complete independence of such advisers by requiring the compensation committee to hire only those advisers that do [...]