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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (177292)	3/29/2004 5:53:13 PM
From: steve harris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

John, April is almost here. Soon we will get to see Intel's proxy and how Carl's lunch club did last year. :) Steve

To: Road Walker who wrote (177292)	3/30/2004 1:24:57 AM
From: Amy J	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Basically, the reason why the comp packages for ceo's are so high is because the ceo pipeline hasn't been fed enough and BODs are unwilling to take the risk of pushing back on ceo comp packages. Though I think they should. The ceo pipeline isn't well fed, in part because BODs generally prefer to hire a ceo with a proven track record as a ceo. During this downturn, there's no margin for error or taking risks on unknown entities. I grilled the ceo candidate we hired on the ROI for each and every company he took public or mna'd. I also asked the ROI on different investment classes (p/f vs c/s, round 1 vs round 2), to see if there was a pattern of any type of preferential treatment (like to late stage investors that might be brought on by a new ceo) - and I always asked candidates what was the exiting equity position of founders vs vc's - this weeds out the buddy buddy stuff that newbie founders may not catch. (There are some ceo's that are in the habit of screwing founders, and over time, people learn who they are and avoid them.) When we recruited a ceo, we wanted someone with a proven track record. Many companies are similar to us. Not too many people want to risk their company on someone that hasn't taken a company public, so the pipeline for creating new ceo's gets squeezed. So, we end up with the same tiny group of proven ceo's. Then we all wonder why the ceo comp packages are so high. It's because we aren't feeding the ceo pipeline enough. But you're right, BODs do need to push back on this stuff during downturns. It's mind boggling to see the average ceo comp packages go up when the average industry wages were essentially frozen. I think Carly's comp package had one of the worst visibility issues in the Valley, in part due to the Inquirer's focus, though if you look at the fine print, her comp package was actually frozen during the good years and only recently went up - so talk about bad timing by her board of directors - they created an unnecessary visibility issue, which in turn hurt company moral for her employees. Which doesn't help INTC. Chambers was smart - he returned some of the compensation he was given during the bad year, and so he continues to gain the respect of his employees. BODs need to start looking at the entire equation and avoid potential visibility issues that could lead to moral problems. Industry BODs sometime get a bit too enamored with their ceo's, no different than fans becoming enamored with their chosen stars. I think you said it best - a group of people build a company, not any single person. The grapevine suggests the comp package of Yahoo's ceo is going to cost Yahoo's shareholders a huge amount of money when employment recovers. This is because the CEO's comp package had a huge negative impact on employees, I'm told. Too many BODs have really, really bad timing. They really need to rework the ceo comp packages so it doesn't contain these highly visible 6 month or even 12 month huge deals for the ceo, while the employees and shareholders are suffering. Yahoo will be a very easy place to pluck talent, when supply eventually gets tight. Which will cost their shareholders. Someone on Yahoo's board was asleep at the wheel, in the way they cut the deal. Btw, what's up with the Tyco case? Regards, Amy J