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BuzzFeed Employees Seek Millions Over Stock Snafu

Group of former, current employees say they were unable to sell on IPO day

(Newser) - In the early days at BuzzFeed, employees labored with relatively low pay and dreams of IPO day, when their stock options would make them whole. This is the common arrangement in many start-ups. Terms like SPAC, stock transfer agent, and arbitration probably did not figure into employees’ thinking at the...

Zuckerberg's Symbolic New Salary: $1

His billions in stock options should cushion the blow

(Newser) - Mark Zuckerberg has joined another exclusive club: that of tech CEOs so fabulously wealthy they can afford to take a $1 salary. A Facebook filing yesterday said Zuckerberg will make that amount this year and forgo any bonuses, reports Quartz . The real pay, of course, comes in the form of...

Netflix Boss' Stock Options Cut in Half

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...

Zynga to Workers: Can We Have That Stock Back?

Move could rock Silicon Valley model if successful

(Newser) - With what’s expected to be an almost $20 billion IPO looming, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus is starting to wish he hadn’t given out so much stock to attract early employees to his company. So he’s doing something unheard of: He’s demanding employees give their stock back...

Congressmen Bet Against Stocks Amid Crisis

All while some were decrying short selling

(Newser) - You know those evil short-sellers at Goldman Sachs and elsewhere that lawmakers have been railing against since around the start of the financial crisis? Well pot, meet kettle. The Wall Street Journal has identified 13 members of Congress who in some way bet against the market during the 2008 financial...

In Lieu of Bonuses, Citi Gives I-Bankers 50% Raises

(Newser) - Citigroup will raise salaries for investment bankers and traders as much as 50% to offset a steep falloff in bonus pay and keep the company’s compensation package competitive, Bloomberg reports. Other employees, like those in the consumer banking section, will receive smaller raises. Citi, which took $45 billion in...

Banks Lowball Taxpayers on TARP Payback
Banks Lowball Taxpayers on TARP Payback
ANALYSIS
May 19, 2009 10:55 AM CDT

Banks Lowball Taxpayers on TARP Payback

Feds hold stake after emergency loans, and could profit by waiting

(Newser) - US banks are eager to repay their TARP money, but doing so might rob taxpayers of the upside they were originally promised, the New York Times reports. In exchange for emergency loans, the government got 10-year warrants to buy stock in the banks. If repaid, it must sell those warrants....

NFL's Model Is Better Bet Than Big Biz

(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...

Firms Reprice Employees' Worthless Stock Options

Repricing plans toss lifeline to 'underwater' stock option holders

(Newser) - Major firms are trying to boost morale by giving workers another chance to profit on stock options made worthless by the stock market dive, the Washington Post reports. Many employees—especially execs—are currently stuck with "underwater" options with a strike price above the trading price. Close to...

Vast Madoff Options Scheme Didn't Add Up

SEC unfurls $50B scam that should have been obvious

(Newser) - For every detail that emerges from the 17th-floor office of Bernard Madoff, two more inconsistencies arise. A federal judge ordered the liquidation of Madoff’s eponymous investment firm and a federal agency has begun to try to compensate clients. Meanwhile, scrutiny of clients'  financial statements shows Madoff's stated strategy of...

Execs Cashed Out as Subprime Giant Staggered

Irregular trades by execs at doomed subprime firm raise questions

(Newser) - Bosses at one of the country's biggest subprime lenders made some suspicious stock sales as the firm's mortgages soured, a Los Angeles Times investigation reveals. Records show that executives at now-bankrupt New Century Financial sold nearly $20 million in company shares shortly after setting up new trading plans, often within...

Ex-Broadcom Boss Charged With Drugging Exec Drinks

Dozens of drug, fraud charges for billionaire

(Newser) - Broadcom's co-founder has been indicted on an astounding spate of federal fraud and narcotics charges, the Wall Street Journal reports. Henry Nicholas III is accused of using and distributing drugs over a seven-year period while directing a criminal stock options-backdating conspiracy that cost the firm billions. Prosecutors claim he secretly...

Apple Shareholders Demand Say on Executive Pay

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...

UnitedHealth's Ex-CEO Will Pay Back $620M

Ousted Maguire settles claims over backdating stock options

(Newser) - UnitedHealth's ex-CEO will surrender another $420 million in stock options and retirement pay to settle claims in a scandal over stock-option backdating. William McGuire already had forfeited $200 million to UnitedHealth when he was ousted last year, the Wall Street Journal reports, making his giveback one of the largest in...

Google Masseuse Is a Millionaire
Google Masseuse Is
a Millionaire
Nov 12, 2007 9:15 AM CST

Google Masseuse Is a Millionaire

Early shareholder muscled into ranks of 1000+ workers worth millions

(Newser) - Google’s first in-house masseuse has cashed out the last of her stock options and joined the ranks of the company's multimillionaires, reports the New York Times. Bonnie Brown joined Google when it had just 40 employees in 1999, and when she retired 5 years later, her stock options were...

Oracle CEO Sells Off $500M, With More To Come

But investors aren't worried as Ellison liquidates 26 million shares

(Newser) - The CEO of Oracle sold off half a billion dollars of stock, but analysts contend that the liquidation shouldn't worry investors. Markets noticed when Larry Ellison sold 26 million shares of the software company he founded in 1977. But the Wall Street Journal writes that past sell-offs haven't triggered broad...

Will Costly Options Hurt Facebook?
Will Costly Options Hurt Facebook?
Oct 28, 2007 10:16 PM CDT

Will Costly Options Hurt Facebook?

High valuation from MS could slow recruiting in Silicon Valley

(Newser) - Microsoft's recently purchased stake in Facebook may make it harder for the social networking site to hire talented employees, reports the Wall Street Journal. By selling a 1.6% stake for $240 million, Facebook increased its valuation to $15 billion, in turn radically increasing the cost of stock options, which...

Stock Options Make for Risk-Happy CEOs

Outright ownership leads to more cautious executives, study shows

(Newser) - Companies compensating their CEOs with stock options should prepare for a bumpy ride, as those CEOs are more likely to take big chances that backfire, a new study finds. Shareholders took extreme losses from more than 10% of option-heavy CEOs, compared to 6.8% who saw big gains. The study's...

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