Corporate Governance

Should private equity set the standard for pay?

30 May 2007

Margaret Ewing, former finance director at BAA, thinks that pay limits for bosses at public companies block innovation. Greed is certainly a powerful motivator. But it can be counterproductive. Public captains of industry should value the prestige as well.

Sarko tries to tackle executive greed

24 May 2007

The new French president has put his campaign promise to limit golden parachutes on his priority list. He should tread carefully. Too tight rules could hurt business. But Sarko s credibility requires some curbs on excess. Transparency is a good place to start.

Siemens squeezed in CEO choice

21 May 2007

The German conglomerate needed a dynamic leader who had not been seduced by the cosy national governance style. Peter Loescher, Austrian hierapparent at US Merck, fits the bill. But Siemens is a complicated business and it s a big promotion for him.

Who should run the World Bank?

18 May 2007

The ideal candidate has financial experience and the gravitas to tussle with entrenched bureaucracy. Larry Summers would ve been good. Even better would be Bob Rubin. He has none of the Bushbaggage that hampered Wolfowitz. It would also give him a graceful exit from Citi.

Pay consultants provide an easy target

11 May 2007

Congress is looking at potential conflicts of interest at compensation consultants which provide other services to companies. But these consultants aren't real gatekeepers. They simply rubber stamp the executive club's everexpanding appetite for pay and perks.

Jet Blue CEO ouster only a first step

10 May 2007

Removing the founder from the executive suite should accelerate fixing the airline s biggest problem: overzealous expansion. If the US lowcost airline is to return to profitability, the new CEO needs to focus on expanding where rivals fear to tread.

Kleinfeld punished for Siemens’ good performance

25 Apr 2007

The German conglomerate tried to delay the contract renewal of chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld. So he decided to standdown. Siemens shares have risen 50% and operating margin doubled under Kleinfeld. His departure doesn t seem shareholderfriendly.

Von Pierer departure will help Siemens recover

20 Apr 2007

The chairman is too closely associated with the scandals and bad old ways of the German conglomerate. His resignation will help draw a line. Current chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld has done a pretty good job at cleaning up problem areas. He should now have a freer hand.

Total chief caught in legal morass

5 Apr 2007

The oil company s CEO has admitted that money was paid to a facilitators lobby for an Iranian contract. He denies corruption was involved. But what looks like a duck and quacks like a duck might well be a duck. This sounds like the sort of behaviour anticorruption laws aim at.

This 13D comes with parental warnings

20 Mar 2007

A clash between an activist investor and his corporate target descended into obscenity. What else is new? Well, the exchange was captured in an SEC filing. The erosion of corporate civility now has an official benchmark.

Hedge funds launch Grand Theft company coup

7 Mar 2007

Steve Cohen and Paul Tudor Jones may seize control of TakeTwo, the videogame producer, without buying out minority shareholders. Given TakeTwo's problems, investors may welcome this. But it highlights a weakness in US shareholder protections that could be exploited.

Thompson exit makes Resolution sale more likely

7 Mar 2007

It was always hard to see how the insurance investor's CEO would rub along with founder and chairman, Clive Cowdery. But why the split? Egos may have played a part. But it may also be that Cowdery, who has a large stake, was keener to sell the group than his chief executive.

Siemens should sell E7.5bn VDO unit

2 Mar 2007

After all, making electronics for cars isn't a core business. And boss Klaus Kleinfeld is meant to be restructuring the German conglomerate. So why doesn't he just get on and have an auction? Corporate politics seem to be getting in the way worse luck.

Who’s the best paid CEO on Wall Street?

27 Feb 2007

And that s despite his investment bank s stock performing worse last year than any of its major rivals. In sheer dollar terms, it s Goldman s Lloyd Blankfein. But measured as a percentage of net earnings, Lehman s Dick Fuld comes out on top.

GE management change won’t bring NBC spinoff

7 Feb 2007

Some investors question housing a media company inside GE s industrial and financial empire. Management insists there are synergies. NBC's new boss, Jeff Zucker, isn't likely to shed fresh light on the riddle. Those hoping for a spin off will be disappointed.

US extradition victims face Russian roulette

26 Jan 2007

Ian Norris is the latest victim of the UK s onesided fasttrack extradition arrangements with the US, where he could face 20 years in jail. His case shows that doing business in the US is now a high risk activity. The severity of US justice is starting to resemble Putin s Russia.

Did Chuck Prince err in sacking Todd Thomson?

26 Jan 2007

From NY to Davos, no question is being asked more than this in light of the former Citi executive s relationship with CNBC s "Money Honey". Prince may not be good at creating value. But he s kept Citi clean. Keeping his legacy for probity will prove a wise judgment on his part.

Citi’s latest management reshuffle insufficient

22 Jan 2007

Sallie Krawcheck is stepping aside as CFO. Like Chuck Prince, she was installed to steer the bank through regulatory storms. They succeeded. But if the board insists on adhering to its flailing conglomerate model it must more fully examine whether it has the right team in place.

Regulators pounce on Commerce’s insider dealings

16 Jan 2007

The Fed and the OCC are investigating deals involving the New Jersey bank s board, executives and others. It might be old news. Commerce details a ton of deals in its proxy. But fears the regulators have found something new might keep investors away from the stock.

Lord Browne rightly quits BP early

12 Jan 2007

The oil giant's CEO, long considered Britain's best businessman, became a lame duck after losing power struggles with his chairman. Browne's legacy as a great industrialist has been tarnished by mishaps in the US, creating questions over whether BP is too big to manage. The new CEO Hayward is taking over at a difficult time. He must restore confidence among investors against a backdrop of falling oil prices.