AT&T Approves $1.97 Million Bonus for CEO

[Tsiyu]

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones/AP) - AT&T Corp. disclosed Tuesday its 2004 bonus payments and 2005 restricted stock and performance share awards for its senior executives, and said Chief Executive David W. Dorman will get a $1.97 million bonus award for last year.
The telecommunications company said in a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Dorman also will get a restricted stock award of 146,100 shares and 340,900 performance shares in 2005.

William J. Hannigan, the company's president and newly appointed chief operating officer, will get a bonus of $1.15 million for 2004. He also will get 92,100 restricted shares and 214,800 performance shares in 2005.

AT&T Chief Financial Officer Thomas W. Horton will get a $697,000 bonus for 2004 and 56,300 restricted shares. He also is set to receive 131,200 performance shares this year.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBZ1UUZE4E.html

[RandomKoolzip]

1. Finally!

Good to see rich white males, at long last, getting a break in this country.

[Tsiyu]

3. No shit!

Poor guy. Glad he's gettin' a little spendin' money.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. Why aren't "workers" in the streets?

What does the average American CEO earn in comparison to the average American worker? Someone at my office said 550x, but it's late and no more Internets for me! What about the average American CEO versus his/her (ha - not too many "hers") counterparts in Europe, Japan, etc.?

[unblock]

4. idea for a new "reality" tv show

give a small factory to a ceo and 4 highly paid senior executives.

give a similar small factory to a mid-level manager and 150 blue collar workers and 20 supervisors (adjust the headcount so the total compensations match.

see who makes the most money in 3 months.

[Jim Sagle]

5. How many layoffs did it take to finance this bonus?

[DavidDvorkin]

6. A lot of layoffs

AT&T has gone through large layoffs over the last few months. Whole departments have been eliminated.

It's not just that the layoffs financed the bonuses. It's also that the layoffs justified the bonuses. Executives get bonuses for cutting expenses as well as for increasing sales.

To a capitalist, this makes perfect sense. To human beings, it's fucking sick.

[denverbill]

7. Well, I can certainly understand give them a bonus.

The stock was around $23 a share 2 years ago, $20 a year ago, and is at $18 today. Jesus H Christ they've done a magnificent job not fucking up even worse than they did. They surely deserve a bonus for not driving the company entirely out of business. Maybe someday, they will even make a profit for shareholders. Imagine how much their bonus will be then!

[On the Road]

8. AT&T Management Has an Aboslutely Miraculous Record

For the last 25 years, every time they had a choice to make, they made the wrong decision:

--Putting the screws to MCI, allowing themselves to be sued for antitrust.
--When they chose how to break up the company, they chose long-distance and manufacturing rather than the lucrative local phone business.
--Overpaying for NCR and then burying them. (Remember NCR? They used to be a hot company.)
--Got in late on cellular and used the wrong technology, requiring expensive upgrades.
--Spinning off Lucent Technologies
--Exiting residential long-distance (This might have been a necessary decision, but it's shameful for a company that had such a dominant position.)
--And now, getting their wireless business bought by Cingular.

Unbelievable. And of course, their executives have always gotten rewarded.

[catmandu57]

9. Fuck, I just wrote them a check

for our monthly service. I really feel like putting that envelope away, and finding another long distance carrier.
I don't see any difference in the companies, that's the problem, kind of like these apathetic suckers who don't vote.

[Guns Aximbo]

10. That company is falling apart

I used to work there. They're like the car in the cartoon that is leaving nuts and bolts on the road behind it.

They're just a shadow of what they were ten years ago. So, I can see why he's being rewarded.

Just watch, this year they'll have ohhhh about 5,000 laid off and next year his bonus will be higher.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. I Have No Problem With Exec Bonuses, But. . .

. . .is their performance in the last year sufficient to justify $2 million? I thought they were getting their lunch handed to them by smaller telecoms, and their cable business is underwater.

This seems completely irrational and NOT in the shareholders' interest. I thought that was the only thing that mattered.
The Professor

[PA Democrat]

13. Such a cozy, insular bunch, those CEO's and board members

of major corporations. It appears their priority is to look out for each other rather than for their shareholders.

I remember seeing a list of CEO's and board members of about 20 biggest corporations. It was a pretty tightly knit little group. I would imagine there's a lot of "back scratching" going on.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Gee, Ya Think?

You're right, absolutely. The one thing that really galls me, however, is that there are HUNDREDS of american corporations that are doing things the right way. No backrooming. No undue bonuses. I just don't understand how the bigs feel that their rules are different from all the midsize and smaller corporations that are doing things on the up and up.
The Professor

[DemoTex]

12. The travesty continues ..

Dave Siegel, the US Airways CEO when the pilots' pension plan was terminated in 2003, got over $10 million that year. Shortly after Siegel left the company, US Airways declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in less than two years. Last month the bankruptcy court judge allowed US Airways to terminate the pensions of all other unionized employees at US Airways. Siegel, meanwhile, lives the good life.

[Minimus]

15. The "socialist" in me comes out when I hear crap like this.

What the hell did that man or any other CEO do to deserve a bonus at that level? Not to mention their outrageous salaries. Why can't they spread that "extra" cash around to say, maybe the employees that actually do the work? Or even hire more employees?

I like the philosophy that a company should set a limit to the ratio between what the highest paid employee/CEO makes compared to the lowest paid employee.

Say 10x (or whatever). So if the lowest paid employee makes $20k a year the CEO would make $200k a year. How encouraging would that be to run a more profitable company so as the CEO you can make more, and how encouraging would that be for the employees to work harder to make the company more profitable so they too can make more money?

I'm sure many holes could be found in this philosophy, but I have just never got the whole million dollar salary and bonus levels for CEOs of corporations. How does capitalism fit in there?

[underpants]

16. HE DESERVES IT!!!!

All the telephone polls are still up...right?

[ucmike]

17. i'll email this to the 5 at&t folks i know laid off this year

we do contract work for them. this is one of the most ineptly managed giant corporations i've come across.

telco in general is a messed up industry. very much freestyle and not very accountable. seems that alot of the divisions operate without a whole lot of direction or strategy.

the group i work for sold all of their spare equipment that was to be used to repair equipment in the field. when i asked how they were going to maintain existing facilities i was told that the issue had been addressed several times to the people pushing for the sale and had never been answered. later i was told that they were switching to a new equipment provider and would swap out any problem systems in their entirety.
this is the same as throwing away your durable, time tested chevy and replacing it with the newest ford because it needed a spare tire...but you also need a new garage and a whole new set of tools because the ford is bigger and different...and the ford cost twice as much and isn't big enough to carry your whole family. one more thing, the ford isn't tested, figure out the bugs in the field. oh yeah, after you do all that leave your chevy in the garage, but don't use it, even if the new ford doesn't work.

[cosmicdot]

18. How CEOs get raises

AT&T's Board of Directors
```````````````````````````

William F. Aldinger Age: 56 Director Since: 2003

Mr. Aldinger is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC North America Holdings Inc., a financial services company. He joined Household International, Inc., a predecessor company, in 1994 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Aldinger became Chairman of Household International, Inc. in May 1996. He is a director of HSBC Holdings plc, MasterCard International and Illinois Tool Works Inc. Mr. Aldinger is a member of the boards of Children's Memorial Medical Center/Children's Memorial Hospital and the Children's Memorial Foundation. He also serves on the board of trustees of the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Kenneth T. Derr Age: 67 Director Since: 1995

Mr. Derr is a retired Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of ChevronTexaco Corporation, an international oil company. He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 1989 to 1999, Vice Chairman from 1985 to 1989 and director from 1981 to 1999. Mr. Derr also serves as a director of the American Petroleum Institute, a member of The Business Council, Council on Foreign Relations and the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution; Co-Chairman of the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy; Director of American Productivity and Quality Center; and Trustee Emeritus of Cornell University. Mr. Derr is a director of Citigroup Inc., Halliburton Company and Calpine Corporation.

David W. Dorman Age: 50 Director Since: 2002

Mr. Dorman has been the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T since November 2002. He was President of AT&T from 2000 to 2002 and the Chief Executive Officer of Concert, a former global venture created by AT&T and British Telecommunications plc, from 1999 to 2000. Mr. Dorman was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of PointCast Incorporated from 1997 to 1999; Executive Vice President of SBC Communications Inc. in 1997; Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Bell from 1994 to 1997; and President of Sprint Business from 1990 to 1994. He served as a member of the President's Advisory Committee on High Performance Computing and Communications, Information Technology and the Next Generation Internet. Mr. Dorman is a director of Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.

M. Kathryn Eickhoff Age: 64 Director Since: 1987

Ms. Eickhoff has been President of Eickhoff Economics, Inc., an economic consulting firm, since 1987. She is a past Associate Director for Economic Policy for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (1985-1987) and the former Executive Vice President and Treasurer of Townsend- Greenspan & Co., Inc. (1962-1985). Ms. Eickhoff is a director of Tenneco Automotive Inc.

Herbert L. Henkel Age: 55 Director Since: 2004

Mr. Henkel has been the Chairman of the Board of Ingersoll-Rand Company, a manufacturer of industrial products and components, since 2000 and President and Chief Executive Officer since 1999. He was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Ingersoll-Rand from April 1999 to October 1999. Mr. Henkel was the Chief Operating Officer of Textron Inc. from 1998 to 1999, and Vice President – Industrial Products Segment from 1993 to 1998. Mr. Henkel is a director of Pitney Bowes Inc. and C.R. Bard, Inc.

Frank C. Herringer Age: 61 Director Since: 2002

Mr. Herringer has been Chairman of the Board of Transamerica Corporation, a financial services company, since 1995. He served as Chief Executive Officer from 1991 to 1999 and President from 1986 to 1999. From 1999 to May 2000, Mr. Herringer served on the Executive Board of Aegon N.V. and as Chairman of the Board of Aegon USA, Inc. Mr. Herringer is a director of The Charles Schwab Corporation, Mirapoint Inc. and Unocal Corporation.

Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Age: 57 Director Since: 2001

Dr. Jackson is the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Prior to becoming President of RPI in 1999, Dr. Jackson was Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1995-1999), a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Rutgers University (1991-1995) and a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories (1975-1991). Dr. Jackson was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2001. She is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Physical Society. She is a Life Member of the M.I.T. Corporation Board of Trustees and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Jackson is a director of FedEx Corporation, Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated, Marathon Oil Corporation, United States Steel Corporation and Medtronic, Inc. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. since November 2003.

Jon C. Madonna Age: 60 Director Since: 2002

Mr. Madonna is a retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG, an international accounting and consulting firm. He was with KPMG for 28 years where he held numerous senior leadership positions throughout his career and served as Chairman from 1990 to1996. Subsequent to his retirement from KPMG, Mr. Madonna served as Vice Chairman of Travelers Group, Inc. from 1997 to 1998 and President and Chief Executive Officer of Carlson Wagonlit Corporate Travel, Inc. from 1999 to 2000. He was Chief Executive Officer of DigitalThink, Inc. from 2001 to 2002, and he has been Chairman of DigitalThink, Inc. since April 2002. Mr. Madonna is a director of Albertson's, Inc., DigitalThink, Inc., Phelps Dodge Corporation and Tidewater Inc.

Donald F. McHenry Age: 67 Director Since: 1986

Mr. McHenry has been a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, since 1981. He has also been President of IRC Group LLC, international relations consultants, since 1981. Mr. McHenry is a director of FleetBoston Financial Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company, International Paper Company and GlaxoSmithKline plc.

Tony L. White Age: 57 Director Since: 2002

Mr. White is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Applera Corporation, a life sciences company. He was elected Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Perkin Elmer Corporation (renamed Applera Corporation) in 1995. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President and a Member of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer at Baxter International Inc. from 1991 to 1995. Mr. White is a director of C.R. Bard, Inc. and Ingersoll-Rand Company.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/5907/000104746904009354/a2131099zdef14a.htm