President Barack Obama announced a package of proposals designed to jolt the housing market, his latest effort to reignite the economy after four years of foreclosures and falling home prices.
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Viacom Inc.’s Philippe Dauman led the list of America’s top-paid CEOs in 2010 but his pay package for 2011 was nearly halved, mainly because he didn’t get stock bonuses for renewing his contract as he did a year ago.
Still, an Associated Press tally values Dauman’s pay package at $43 million, down from $84.5 million a year ago.
The figures were contained in a securities filing the media company filed Friday.
Another reason he won’t be the highest paid CEO last year: Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook was awarded a package valued at a whopping $378 million for replacing the late Steve Jobs at the helm.
Dauman’s base salary rose 33 percent to $3.5 million, but the bulk of his pay came in the form of a $20 million bonus for good performance, a 78 percent increase from a year ago. The company said operating profits came in above the mid-point of its target range and free cash flow generation was near the top of its range.
Dauman’s annual grant of stock awards was 68 percent smaller than a year ago at $13.3 million, and new stock options he was granted were valued at $6 million, down 79 percent from fiscal 2010.
He also received other compensation of $262,636, mainly for personal use of the company aircraft.
New York-based Viacom’s executive chairman and 88-year-old founder, Sumner Redstone, saw a 39 percent boost to his pay package to $21 million.
Redstone, who controls the company through a special class of voting shares, pulled down a base salary of $1.75 million, up a third from a year earlier, and a performance bonus up 78 percent at $10 million. New grants of stock and stock options came to about $8 million, the same as the previous year.
Redstone also benefited from a preferential executive pension plan that grew by about $1 million, with other compensation totaling $30,955 quick payday loan.
Over the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Viacom’s widely traded Class B shares rose 7 percent to $38.74 from $36.19. The company said its total shareholder return in fiscal 2011, comprised of $417 million in dividends and $2.5 billion in share buybacks, was 8.7 percent, compared to 0.8 percent for the companies of the S&P 500 Index.
Viacom owns pay TV networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1 and the Paramount Pictures movie studio.
The Associated Press formula calculates an executive’s total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The value that a company assigned to an executive’s stock and option awards for 2011 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company’s stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options
fast cash loan is fast becoming a viable financial option for consumers who need a few extra dollars.
The war of words between Europe and private investors heated up Tuesday as talks to reduce Greece’s massive debt burden hit an impasse.
While the finance ministers of the countries that use the euro as their currency adopted a tough stance on how much rescue money they would pump into the Greek economy, the head of the group that represents the country’s private creditors _ banks and other investment firms _ warned that the future of Europe was being threatened if a voluntary debt reduction deal over Greece was not agreed.
Charles Dallara, the managing director of the Institute of International Finance, warned that Europe was putting “decade of progress at risk” over the management of Greek debt-reduction talks, which stalled over the weekend.
“European stability is at stake as well,” Dallara said in Zurich in a press conference.
On the front line of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, Athens is trying to get its private creditors to swap their Greek government bonds for new ones with half their face value, thereby slicing some euro100 billion ($130 billion) off its debt. The new bonds would also push the repayment deadlines 20 to 30 years into the future.
However, the main stumbling block over the past few weeks to securing this deal has been the interest rate these new bonds would carry. A high interest rate could buffer losses for investors, but would also require the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund to put up more than the euro130 billion ($169 billion) in rescue loans they promised in October.
Dallara said the private creditors, which include banks, insurance companies and hedge funds, were acting in good faith and that the proposal made last week was in the spirit of last October’s agreement. At that time, Europe’s leaders said Greece should look to reduce the value of its private sector debts by 50 percent, or euro100 billion ($130 billion).
In the early hours of Tuesday, eurozone politicians drew a firm line on the Greek debt restructuring.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister who chaired a meeting of finance ministers on efforts to fight the crisis, said the average interest rate over the lifetime of the new Greek bonds must be “clearly below 4 percent,” with an average rate of less than 3.5 percent for the period until 2020. That is far below the 4 percent demanded by the Institute of International Finance, which has been leading negotiations for the private bondholders.
The European ministers’ tough stance on the interest rates underlines how the eurozone and the IMF are unwilling to increase new rescue loans above the promised euro130 billion, even though Greece’s economic situation has deteriorated. After already granting Greece a euro110 billion bailout in May 2010, the eurozone and the IMF are threatening to withhold further funding for the country, which has repeatedly failed to hit budget and reform targets required in return for the financial aid.
The interest rate caps will also seriously test the willingness of private bondholders to agree to a debt deal voluntarily.
Dallara said talks would continue over the coming days, adding that he was confident there would be “large-scale” participation by the private sector if a “voluntary” deal is clinched.
However, he refused to put a deadline on the discussions.
Given the complexity of the negotiations and the legal consequences that would ensue, many analysts think a deal has to be agreed soon if Greece is to meet a vital bond repayment deadline in March.
If it can’t pay its bond, Greece would be in default of its debts, a scenario that could lead to renewed panic in financial markets and potentially derailing a feeble global economic recovery.
Dallara said Europe must keep the support of the private sector, given the massive amounts of debt that have to be refinanced from France to Portugal.
He added that there wasn’t a country that didn’t need investment from the private sector.
“Investors need to feel confident in their investments … in sovereign debt,” he said.
Before Dallara’s latest comments, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the current impasse was a normal part of difficult negotiations.
“We continue the negotiations (with investors) as happily, but also as little susceptible to blackmail as possible,” he told reporters in Brussels. “That exists in every bazaar _ a final offer _ one shouldn’t let oneself be overly impressed by that.”
The alternative to a voluntary deal would be to force losses on to investors _ a move that the eurozone has so far been unwilling to make. Some officials fear that a forced default could trigger panic on financial markets and hurt bigger countries like Italy, Spain or even France.
But several ministers indicated that they might be willing to accept a forced default if it puts Athens in a position where it can eventually repay its remaining debt _ including the rescue loans from the eurozone and the IMF. The eurozone has said that Greece’s debt is sustainable if it falls to some 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. Without a restructuring it would reach close to 200 percent by the end of the year.
Even Olli Rehn, the EU’s Monetary Affairs Commissioner, said that forcing some holdouts to accept a restructuring that has the support of the majority of bondholders would be acceptable.
“That is possible within the framework of achieving a voluntary agreement on private sector involvement,” Rehn said, referring to so-called collective action clauses that Greece could write into its old bond contracts to allow majority decision making. The Commission has so far always been opposed to any forced losses for investors.
But ministers also put the pressure on Greece to reach a manageable debt level by bolstering its reform and austerity measures.
“Greece and the banks have to do more in order to reach a sustainable debt level,” Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager told reporters as he arrived for a second day of meetings with his European counterparts. “We have to await the discussions about that because a sustainable debt level is absolutely a precondition for the next (rescue) program.”
Schaeuble also insisted that firm support for new austerity measures from all major Greek parties _ including after elections expected in April _ was a precondition for a new bailout.
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Pan Pylas in Zurich and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, Greece, contributed to this story.
Asian stocks posted muted gains Monday in trade thinned by Chinese New Year holidays as talks on a debt agreement for Greece dragged on.
Only a handful of markets were open for business. Trading is closed in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average was up 0.2 percent at 8,779.16 while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3 percent to 4,228.10. New Zealand’s benchmark added 0.1 percent to 3,279.19.
On Friday, stocks in Europe mostly held their gains for the week, waiting for the outcome of Greece’s negotiations with its creditors on a deal to cut the face value of up to euro200 billion ($258 billion) in debt by 50 percent.
Over the weekend, the representative of Greece’s private creditors said the talks are continuing even after his unexpected departure from the country.
A deal in Athens would allow the country to receive a second bailout package from other European governments and the International Monetary Fund, and cut Greece’s debt from an estimated 160 percent of its annual economic output to 120 percent by 2020 low interest rate personal loans.
That is still painfully high, but without the help, Greece will not be able to pay euro14.5 billion in debt due March 20. A Greek default would send borrowing costs higher across Europe and could trigger chaos in the global financial system.
On Wall Street on Friday the Dow rose 96.50 points to close at 12,720.48. The S&P 500 index inched up 0.88 to 1,315.38 and the Nasdaq gained 1.63 points to 2,786.70.
In energy trading, benchmark crude was down 41 cents at $97.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
China is allowing the nation
Three Federal Reserve policy makers called on the U.S. government to try new programs to revive the housing market while differing over whether the central bank should take more steps to cut borrowing costs.
New York Fed President William C. Dudley said in New Jersey today that
The Obama administration will ask Congress to increase federal borrowing authority by $1.2 trillion as the nation approaches the debt limit set by law, according to a Treasury Department official.
The White House will send the request to Congress on Dec. 30, the day the debt is projected to rise to within $100 billion of the $15.194 trillion limit, the Treasury official told reporters today on condition of anonymity.
Congress will be notified under the terms of a deal to raise the limit worked out on Aug. 2 after months of wrangling between the administration and Republican lawmakers. Three days later, Standard & Poor
Property and casualty insurer Alleghany Corp. has agreed to buy the insurer Transatlantic Holdings Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $3.4 billion.
The companies say the deal values Transatlantic at about $59.79 per share. That’s a 10 percent premium to the company’s $54.43 Friday closing stock price.
New York-based Transatlantic had been courted by several businesses, receiving takeover offers from Validus Holdings Ltd. and a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., National Indemnity Corp. It also said in October that it had started confidential talks with an unnamed party.
In the deal with Alleghany, Transatlantic stockholders will receive 0.145 shares of Alleghany and $14.22 in cash for each share they own.
The companies say the deal announced Monday is expected to close early next year.
London officials attached eviction notices to protest tents outside St. Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, asking the demonstrators to remove them within a day or face legal action.
The notices posted by the City of London Corporation said the protest camp was “an unlawful obstruction” of a sidewalk, and asked protesters to take down “all tents and other structures” by 6 p.m. (1800 GMT, 1 p.m. EST) Thursday.
The cathedral and the corporation had suspended legal action to remove the camp two weeks ago, and offered the protesters a deal to allow them to stay until the new year if they then agreed to leave. But the corporation said Tuesday that talks had failed and it was resuming legal action.
If the tents are not removed, the corporation says it will go to court seeking an eviction notice _ a process that could take weeks.
More than 200 tents have been pitched outside the iconic church since Oct. 15 in a protest against capitalist excess inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street, and the protesters said they would resist attempts to move them.
“We will contest it,” spokeswoman Naomi Colvin said. “We will be speaking to our legal team and we will be fighting it.”
The governing Chapter of St. Paul’s Cathedral said in a statement that it recognized “the local authority’s statutory right to proceed with the action it has today,” but would continue to meet with protesters in a bid to find a peaceful solution.
Police in the U.S. have been moving in to clear away similar protests, breaking up camps in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday, Oakland, California, on Monday and on Tuesday in New York, where about 200 people were arrested.
The millions that Jon Corzine amassed as head of Goldman Sachs have become an alluring target for investors who were crushed by the collapse of MF Global, the brokerage firm he led until earlier this month.
And Corzine isn’t the only one who may be financially vulnerable after the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Others include MF Global’s other top executives; its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers; and some big Wall Street banks.
Even MF Global itself, which can’t be sued while in bankruptcy protection, could sue its former executives.
Corzine and other senior executives likely share a liability insurance policy to cover potential lawsuits against them. But experts say potential damages sought could well exceed the limits of their policy.
Corporate bankruptcy is a “litigation nightmare: Everyone ends up suing everyone,” said Charles Elson, a professor and director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “The officers and directors are in for a lot of litigation.”
Private litigation has already begun. At least two class-action lawsuits on behalf of MF Global shareholders have been filed against Corzine and three other top executives. They accuse the firm and its top executives of making false and misleading statements about MF Global’s financial strength, internal controls and cash balances.
MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31 after a disastrous bet on European government debt. In just a week, stock investors lost about $585 million, the shareholders say.
More than $600 million in clients’ money is still missing. Regulators say MF Global moved the money out of client accounts within days as the firm’s cash dried up.
No one at MF Global has been charged with a crime or civil violation. But regulators and the FBI and other criminal investigators are investigating MF Global’s failure, and Corzine has hired a prominent white-collar defense attorney.
A public relations firm hired by Corzine declined to comment Monday. An MF Global spokeswoman had no immediate comment. And Corzine’s lawyer didn’t immediately a return call.
It isn’t clear just how much money Corzine is worth. He spent roughly $100 million of his fortune to win a U.S. Senate seat and the New Jersey governorship. In 2005, the last full year that he was a U.S. senator, he was estimated to be worth between $125 million and $175 million.
Corzine’s disclosure filings as governor, through 2009, provide less detail on his finances. They do show he held interests in real estate partnerships, investment companies, hedge funds and private equity funds.
After the MF Global bankruptcy, Corzine declined to take his $12 million severance pay.
Legal experts say Corzine could be held personally liable for misrepresenting to investors the risks that the firm had taken payday advance online.
MF Global didn’t list the European debt on its balance sheet for all to see. Instead, those holdings were shifted to the company’s “off-balance sheet,” deep in its financial statements. Some separate filings with regulators excluded the European debt entirely.
Under a 2002 anti-corporate fraud law _ which Corzine co-wrote as a U.S. senator _ CEOs of public companies must personally certify the accuracy of their company’s financial statements.
If client money was used by the firm for its own purposes, Corzine could be held responsible, said Thomas Ajamie, an attorney who specializes in financial fraud cases.
“That would be the house gambling with customers’ money,” Ajamie said.
Other top MF Global executives also could face legal jeopardy, experts say. And members of the board of directors could be accused of failing to properly oversee Corzine’s trading strategy and the firm’s risk management.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, MF Global’s auditors, could be targeted, too. So could the Wall Street banks that put up money for floating the firm’s own bonds.
With MF Global in bankruptcy, new potential litigants could step forward, in addition to civil and criminal authorities and shareholders. The trustee the bankruptcy court appointed will conduct an investigation and could sue top executives on behalf of the company to recover money for creditors.
“Anyone who has a deep pocket gets sucked in,” Elson said.
Major companies typically provide liability insurance for top executives and their directors. The insurance covers the legal costs in case they’re sued by shareholders or others and the damages they might have to pay.
The insurance provides a single pot of money for executives and board members, usually in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Companies offer the insurance as a perk to recruit executive talent, experts say. The insurance kicks in if executives or directors are accused of breaches of duty and “wrongful acts” that stop short of fraud, such as misstatements to investors.
Experts say the damages or penalties that could be sought in MF Global’s case could far outstrip executives’ insurance coverage. That’s because multiple parties could sue each executive or director for tens of millions. The payouts could exceed each official’s share of the coverage.
Craig Welin, a lawyer at Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, which specializes in bankruptcy and financial litigation, said he thinks Corzine could be tied up in litigation for five to 10 years.
“They’ll be looking under every rock,” Welin said. “And if that rock has deep pockets, they’ll look even closer.”