Posted on 09/16/2015 7:31:56 AM PDT by jimbo123
Pension fund investors filed a suit against Hewlett-Packard directors on Tuesday, calling "excessive" the $42 million severance package plus other perks paid last year to fired chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina.
The action was filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California by Indiana Electrical Workers Pension Trust Fund and pension funds administered by the Service Employees International Union.
The suit alleges that HP's board breached company policy last year by granting a payout to Fiorina that exceeded 2.99 times the sum of an executive's base salary, plus target bonuses, without seeking shareholder approval.
That HP policy had been put in place in 2003 after shareholder dissent over a $16 million payout to former HP president Michael Capellas, who had been in the position for only about seven months, according to a statement released by law firm Grant & Eisenhofer, which is representing the two pension funds in the new lawsuit.
When Fiorina was terminated in February 2005, she received a severance of $21.4 million, plus stock options and other bonuses that upped her exit package to about $42 million, according to Grant & Eisenhofer. Although that package exceeded HP's 2.99 formula, no shareholder vote was sought to authorize the payout, the suit charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at informationweek.com ...
What was the result of the suit?
I saw her give a speech last year. Maybe I’m too conservative to appreciate her, but she bored me to death. I can’t remember anything memorable she said. My sense is her campaign is about her being a republican woman. I really could care less about that angle. In that sense as a candidate rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I’m being unfair to her on that point (gender, not being a bore).
She screwed over a lot of investers when she worked at Lucent too. Her business model is what led to the tech bubble and collapse. it was very similar to the housing bubble/ collapse.
I guess that explains Trump’s comment:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/14/trump-says-high-pay-for-ceos-is-a-joke-and-disgraceful.html
Donald Trump said on Sunday high salaries paid to chief executives were a “joke” and a “disgrace” and said these were often approved by company boards stacked with the CEO’s friends.
I'm not a fan of Fiorina but note one of the sources of the suit above. Makes one wonder about the underlying motivation.
Yep. Could have been the setup for Carly, if she goes after him tonight.
But also is a simple truth.
I am not a Carly fan, but I find it funny that Trump fans trash posters who post “old” articles about Trump from a month ago and then bring up this one from 2006.
The board negotiated the severance with her, so if it was excessive or violated shareholder rights it is their fault not hers.
If it were Trump rather than Carly, he would be praised for showing what a great negotiator he was for getting such a sweet deal, and they might have a point.
My takeaway: Fiorina probably had a great lawyer. Nothing positive or negative on her part.
I did support her early on this year but she’s getting on my nerves and comes over as another Hillary, in that she’s shallow and bitchy.
So what? That’s the Golden Parachute all CEO’s work out before they sign their contracts.
http://nypost.com/2005/02/10/fiorina-flops-h-p-chiefs-ousted-amid-compaq-deal-backlash/
Her missteps:
* May 2002: Compaq deal, which failed to improve margins and boost profit
* Aug. 2002: H-P cited discounting costs as profit missed targets
* Aug. 2003: Fiorina fired three sales execs, as shares plunged 13% on what she called “unacceptable” profits.
* Pushing PC unit – with weak gross margins – while falling behind in the high-margin servers and storage businesses
Me too. But what frosted me was the attitude she had about the American people. She thinks that Obama has not been doing things the "right" way.
She thinks that she would do a better job than Obama.
She doesn't have a freaking clue that what the American people want is to get government off our backs so we can make our own lives better.
Carly, are ya gonna share some of your HP severance with the rest of us? Because, I could really use some walking around money and any other ideas you have to make our lives better will not work.
I supported her also but Sundance, along with some other information, caused me to change course.
Besides, I think we need Trump - we don’t need nuance - we need full steam ahead leadership.
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