CEO pay hikes double!

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Registered: 03-18-2000
CEO pay hikes double!
46
Wed, 07-28-2004 - 2:15pm

Corporate Library survey finds median raise for S&P 500 CEO was 22.18% in 2003.



http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/28/news/economy/ceo_pay/index.htm?cnn=yes


The CEO's at the nation's largest companies saw their raises more than doubled in 2003 as the median raise handed out by S&P 500 companies to their top executives was 22.18 percent, according to a study by The Corporate Library.


The watchdog group said that stock options and awards of restricted stock drove the larger pay hikes. But most elements of the pay -- base salary, annual bonuses, restricted stock, long-term incentive payout, value realized from stock options and total compensation -- showed increases. The only type of compensation not to show a gain was the value of stock option grants during the year.




"This double-digit rise in pay shows that calls for pay restraint appear to be being ignored," said the statement from the group.


It said four S&P 500 companies -- Apple Computer (AAPL: Research, Estimates), Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates), Yahoo! (YHOO: Research, Estimates) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL: Research, Estimates), upped their CEO pay by well over 1,000 percent.


The compensation for all CEOs, a total sample of 1,429 companies, show median pay increases of 15 percent, up from 9 percent increases in 2002. The median is the pay increase at which there are the same number of pay increases that are greater and that are less.

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2004
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 12:51pm
"Tell that to people who have seen their companies move to India, China or Mexico."

Pick up a business magazine right now, and you will be likely to see that some company owners are rethinking their decision of outsourcing outside of America. My husband works in an industry where outsourcing to India has exploded (my husband is a internet application developer), but I've read 3 articles in biz trade mags, including Fast Company, in the past 3 months that reports that companies in the tech industry are moving their jobs *back* to the US because most of the jobs in this industry require their people to be independent thinking...a quality that the Indian developers don't posses due to the nature of their societal culture.

In a nutshell, CEOs look out for their company first...if the outsourced work that they get is sub-par, they won't stick with it. If they did, it would harm their business/product. Now...if they outsource to China, and the Chinese produce a better product...well, that's good business decision making...nothing more.

I DO NOT think a company should EVER keep work inside the country if they can get it done better elsewhere. To expect a company to do otherwise is unrealistic.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 1:00pm
Excellent post! Well said.
cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2004
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 1:12pm
>"Face the facts, the middle class is being squeezed out...and it's not in the direction of the 'rich'...and it's not because they aren't busting their tushes either. It's because the current laws are made to favor those with the most income. They are the ones that can access all the write-offs, tax shelters, etc. They are the ones that get the greatest benefit from 'tax cuts'."<


Ok...maybe this is because my husband runs a small business but we do GREAT at tax time. I adore tax time. Last year, when he was working full-time running his business we made right around $32,000 last year. My husband did not pay in any income tax on a federal or state level during the year. At tax time, we got a refund of just under $3,000 and we didn't pay anything in throughout the year! And we didn't do any shady stuff on our return either. We used H & R Block online, and they checked our return before filing. It was all legit. And this was in addition to myself going to school on a full Pell Grant that pays for my tuition, books and fees and send me a CHECK for the remaining balance of my financial aid award to cover "living expenses, gas and parking." On an average, I get a $1000 check (per semester) that is the balance of my left over aid when I am enrolled full time. The money and help is there, you just have to know where to get it from.

Just a little bit of information concerning financial aid for college: The hardest thing about a federal grant is getting granted in the first place. Once you are granted, most of the time you continue to get your aid, even if your income level rises. Your expected family contribution amount may increase on you SAR and you probably won't get as much, but you will STILL continue to get help. This is information straight from my financial aid advisor at school who included this with a story of a single father who started out school on a full Pell, and two years in, got a good job making $70,000 a year, and still continued to get SOME help from the Pell to help cover school.

Just for further clarification, I am a SAHM, not working (unless you count taking care of my children and working on a novel), and we have two children 3 & 2. We are a single income family. We live in a cute house (that we rent, not own), in an ok neighborhood and drive a newer mini-van. We are VERY middle class.




Edited 7/30/2004 1:13 pm ET ET by spiegdon

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 1:34pm

Ok...maybe this is because my husband runs a small business but we do GREAT at tax time. I adore tax time. Last year, when he was working full-time running his business we made right around $32,000 last year. My husband did not pay in any income tax on a federal or state level during the year. At tax time, we got a refund of just under $3,000 and we didn't pay anything in throughout the year! And we didn't do any shady stuff on our return either. We used H & R Block online, and they checked our return before filing. It was all legit.

Yes, it does.


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2004
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 2:06pm
>"Yes, it does. You have legit write-offs and depreciations as a business owner that the rest of us do not have access to."<

Do you know that you can do *anything* on a business level (selling crafts, ebaying, scrapbooking for others, teaching online classes, etc. etc.) and claim a loss on that business for 5 years before the IRS deems it a hobby? Just about anyone can have access to those tax write-offs if they go down to their county office, file a DBA ($10 where I live) and use a very small business for a write off? You don't even have to do more than work enough to make some spending cash, but deduct living space in your home, percentages of utility bills, gas, new technilogical equipment (like my new laptop that is an expense for my writing)...just to name a few deductions. And hey, maybe the business would take off! :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 2:06pm
You don't seriously believe that sending all these companies offshore doesn't have an

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2004
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 2:20pm
>"The case is cheaper not necessarily better."<

True, but a cheap quality product in most cases will not withstand the public, if the people are expecting a quality product because they're paying quality prices. However, I live just south of Flint, MI (we're talking, you don't know you've left Flint and entered Burton), where buying foreign cars is almost sack religious. But truth be told, (unless they've drastically improved the quality of American vehicles in the past 4-5 years) a cheap Honda Civic will cost you a lot less, run a heck of a lot longer and have a higher resale value to boot. Traveling to other states, I notice just how many more foreign cars are on the roads (Hondas, Toyotas, etc.) and I can understand it. Many of these companies make quality cars for a better price than you can get GM or a Ford. You don't see that much here because a lot of the people in this state are still employeed by one of the big 3. Heck, I know a lot of people who work for the some of the Big 3 who would buy a Honda if they didn't get an unbeatable discount on the cars that they're employer makes.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 2:49pm

"buying foreign cars is almost sack religious"


LOL We have a "Ford man" living next door.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2004
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 3:37pm
>"A few months back a manuf. plant closed here, went to China. My DH was pretty upset 'cause he knew alot of the people, some were older & took early retirment. The little town was once home to several cotton/textile mills, went south, literally, a decade ago. Now there's not much work they're qualified for. Sad."<

I doubt there will be many manufacturing jobs left to be had when my kids grow up. I do have to say, I will happily push my kids to seek less blue collar jobs. My dad is skilled trades at a GM plant here, and it's hard, dirty, hearing-damaging, health-damaging work. He makes good money though. But he hates his job too. I hope my kids head for more "brainy" work. I think they'll just be happier in their work. I hate seeing people who can't stand dragging themsleves to work every day. That's sad too.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2004
Fri, 07-30-2004 - 3:39pm
"LOL We have a "Ford man" living next door. "

My dad said if I ever bought a foreign car I'd have to park it in the street. He almost wouldn't let me park the Ford we had before our Pontiac van in his drive either...lol