Does Jay Leno get his salary capped at $500,000?

[AngryAmish]

NBC is owned by GE. GE also owns GE Capital which has taken hundreds of millions in government money. Does Jay Leno have to get his wages cut to $500,000?

I have nothing against Mr. Leno - I don't watch his show but he seems a nice enough cat. But isn't it reckless for a company that took taxpayer money to pay anyone millions of dollars in these hard times? He is taking our money, afterall.

[NYCGirl]

1. Did he take TARP money? Government contracts are not the same thing. NT

[AngryAmish]

2. GE Capital got TARP money - our money

[KharmaTrain]

8. GE Financial May Have...

NBC sure didn't. They get their corporate welfare other ways. It's called "deregulation".

[Kahuna]

11. Jay doesn't work for GE Capital. He works for NBC Universal. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

3. He Doesn't Run The Company

His salary does not involve the decision making that drove GE Capital into problems.

Basically, he is an contract employee to GE and his salary is directly proportional to his value to the company. The failed CEO's are the opposite. Their high salaries are inversely proportional to the value of the leadership.
GAC

[AngryAmish]

7. Then this runs into the "give a goy a title" problem.

Why wouldn't these executive just change their titles/relationship with the company and go back to their old salaries and bonus'. Instead of being "president" of the bank, just become a consultant or some other nonsense.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Because They're Still Executive Officers Of The Corporation

The by-laws of incorporation would require sitting officers. They can't change their titles, function in the roles specified by the by-laws, and then say they're not in charge. That's fraud! The laws involving incorporation are very clear about this.

Most libraries have some pretty good business law books, and you will see in most of those a fairly easy to follow explanation of these laws as well as the other related regulations that cover them.

There are lawyers here at DU. Perhaps we can get one of them to explain it better than i can.
GAC

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. A $100K per laugh seems mighty high.

[EOTE]

9. My god, how long did you have to watch Leno to get 5 laughs?

I get the occasional chuckle from those newspaper clippings he has if I happen to come across it, but as a comedian, it's hard for me to think of anyone less funny.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. Touché.

[bunnies]

5. Not unless he's a secret bank executive.

Are you serious? :shrug:

[phantom power]

6. But he's not an "executive officer."

They were actually discussing this oddity on NPR yesterday. It is quite possible that some CEOs will have their salaries capped, and the guys just underneath them (who also make millions a year) will not.

They interviewed a compensations expert on Wall St, and he said anybody with > 5 years experience on Wall St would be making more than $500K/year.

Unbelievable.

[serrano2008]

13. The difference is in the bottom line

Leno deserves Millions of dollars because that's way less than his company makes from his show.

The big banks taking the bailout dollars had Billions of dollars in losses but gave their executives Millions of dollars in compensation and bonuses regardless - some even more than in previous years.

I own a small business where if I make a profit - we all get bonuses. If we have a loss - we don't get bonuses.

[WI_DEM]

14. What about David Letterman!