The shareholder vote on Coke’s (KO) compensation plan last week was disappointing in several ways. The plan itself is overly generous to management, contemplating as it does up to 500 million of share issuance to executives depending on certain performance targets. KO’s proxy statement revealed that it could transfer up to 14.2% of the company, […]
Today’s FT has a story on the relatively weak corporate governance practiced by tech companies. Jeff Ubben of ValueAct criticized Eric Schmidt’s 2011 payout of over $100 million from Google, and features such as the dual share class (used by Google and other tech companies) were also highlighted. Public shareholders can only buy shares with […]
I don’t always agree with Paul Krugman, but in this op-ed from a couple of days ago he makes some good points about the size of the financial services industry. He’s prompted to do so by Michael Lewis’s new book Flash Boys (although Paul Krugman probably needs little encouragement to whack Wall Street). But the […]
Making short term market predictions is a fool’s errand, and consequently we don’t do it. Investing for the long run is hard enough without being confused by all the pundits on cable TV. But underneath the visible noise of market direction an interesting shift is taking place. We tend to own stocks that are less […]
Last weekend’s Economist examined the pay-off for students of the investment they make in various degrees. It’s the kind of unsentimental return analysis that needs to take place far more often. Not surprisingly, Engineering graduates enjoy anywhere from $500,000 of additional lifetime earnings to over $1 million (depending on the school from which they graduate). […]
Since I read Flash Boys, those ads for discount brokerage now appear differently to me. I used to think that when, say, TD Ameritrade offers commissions of $9.99 a trade it’s because their platform is so efficient, so geared to enjoy economies of scale, that this low rate was sufficient to generate revenue in excess […]
In his new book Flash Boys, Michael Lewis describes how Brad Katsuyama at Royal Bank of Canada deduced what the high frequency traders were doing. Brad had been frustrated that whenever he went to trade stocks on a posted price, he’d routinely get a much smaller amount of shares than advertised. 10,000 shares of stock may […]
I eagerly read anything that Michael Lewis writes. He must be one of the most erudite and entertaining writers of our time. From Liar’s Poker on he’s produced books and essays that are highly entertaining as well as informative. I even enjoyed Moneyball, even though as a Brit I know very little about baseball. It […]
Interesting perspective on where the IRS is likely to focus from Robert Willens in Barrons today. He notes, “While the IRS is getting more restrictive on REITs and inversions, they are getting more expansive on MLPs, for some unknown reason. They are allowing a broader class of entity to convert to MLP status.”
The proxy statements filed by public companies prior to their annual meetings are not always interesting to read. But Coca-Cola’s (KO) has caught my attention, thanks to some diligent work by David Winters of Wintergreen Advisers, LLC. Like many companies, KO is putting its compensation plan up for a non-binding shareholder vote. However, it turns […]
