Firms Reprice Employees' Worthless Stock Options

(NEWSER) - The business world’s dependence on its own form of gambling—the “expectations,” or stock market—helped fuel the current financial crisis and the dot-com crash, writes Roger Martin in the Financial Times. “Neither would have happened if our business and capital markets theories had been as robust as those used to govern the NFL.” The league, soundly, instead rewards players and coaches on their “real market” performance—wins, touchdowns, yards. More»

Union proposal OK'd at annual meeting

(NEWSER) - Apple shareholders have approved a motion giving them some input into executive pay levels, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "I hope it will help me with my $1 a year salary," quipped CEO Steve Jobs after the vote at the company's annual meeting—though Jobs bags millions of dollars worth of stock options and other perks on top of his token salary. More»

Shares reach new high ahead of third-quarter report

(NEWSER) - Google's stocks have shot past $600 for the first time, kindling investor hopes as the cyber giant eyes a possible buy of ad distributor DoubleClick. CNN Money reports that stocks peaked at $610.26 in New York today and closed at $609.92, a 2.6% gain. The rise extended a monthlong surge in which shares spiked 17% in anticipation of a rosy 3rd-quarter report. More»

Wells Fargo, Bank of America may have reason to worry

(NEWSER) - Now that shareholders have rejected Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit's $15 million pay package, all eyes are on Wells Fargo and Bank of America, both of which are holding their own "say on pay" votes in the coming weeks. The votes are required as part of post-financial crisis financial reform laws, and though negative votes have been cast before, Citigroup marks the first big bank to suffer one. "If it can happen at Citigroup it can happen anywhere, particularly at other big financial firms," an AFL-CIO director tells the Los Angeles Times . More»

Reed Hastings pays for battered share price

(NEWSER) - Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is paying the price for the price hike / Qwikster debacle that has sent the company’s share price down 75% since July. Hastings' annual stock option allowance will be cut by 50%, bringing it to $1.5 million, the company revealed in a regulatory filing yesterday. He'll still take home a $500,000 salary in 2012. Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Kilgore, meanwhile, will take a salary cut from $802,000 down to $575,000, though her option allowance will increase from $1.1 million to $1.3 million, Bloomberg reports. More»