Wal-Mart Tops Fortune 500

Editors see huge disparity between businesses, ordinary Americans

(NEWSER) - Turns out, last year was a pretty good one for US businesses. Total revenue for Fortune 500 companies jumped 10.5% to $10.8 trillion, while profits surged 81%. "We've rarely seen such a stark gulf between the fortunes of the 500 and those of ordinary Americans," write the editors at Fortune . Walmart finished on top for the second year in a row, though Exxon had bigger profits: More»

Feinberg beefs up base base to help firms retain talent

(NEWSER) - Base pay will increase for the majority of top execs in the finance and auto firms supervised by federal pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. Salaries are being bumped up—by hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases—as bonuses and other perks are slashed. Despite the salary hikes, all 136 execs at the seven firms overseen by Feinberg will end up making much less than last year. More»

175 top earners will see pay cuts averaging 50%

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s pay czar will cut compensation for the 25 highest-paid employees at seven companies that took large amounts of government aid. The 175 executives will face salary reductions of 90%, but with other compensation elements added in, the total reductions average 50%. Ken Feinberg also will require the seven bailed-out firms to change the way they do business in an effort to discourage excessive short-term risk-taking. More»

(NEWSER) - Just because top banking executives took home hefty paychecks in recent months doesn't mean they'll get to keep the money, reports Reuters. White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg declared he has clear authority to "claw back" egregious bonuses already paid out by any bank that received federal TARP money. More»

Big gains for major banks ahead of earnings reports

(NEWSER) - Stocks staged a broad rally today as financials soared ahead of earnings reports, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bank of America surged 9%, while Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase rose 6.9%. General Electric, which will also report its second-quarter earnings this week, rose 6.1%. The Dow closed up 185.16 at 8,331.68. The Nasdaq added 37.18 to 1,793.21, and the S&P 500 rose 21.92, settling at 901.05. More»