This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
Tag: Yale
-
At Brinker, directors eat free
Brinker International, the Dallas restaurant company with $4.3 billion in annual revenue, pays members of its board of directors well, more than $200,000 a year in cash and stock, according to the company’s proxy statement.
And it gives them a complimentary dining card for use in company restaurants, which currently number about 1,800 in 49 states, Washington, D.C., and two dozen foreign countries. Brinker’s outlets include Chili’s, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, On the Border and Maggiano’s Little Italy.
The dining card is a great perk for motivating directors to learn first hand about the company’s business and its products. Wonder how many of Countrywide Financial’s directors and their families hold some of the exotic mortgages that are now causing chaos in the credit markets? Or, how many Mattel directors and their families have toys with lead paint in their homes?
A few of Brinker’s directors did not make use of their dining card, as first reported by footnoted.org. Among them was Robert Gates, who left the board late last year when he became Secretary of Defense.
George Mrkonic, the retired president of Borders Group, and John Mims, co-founder of Cypress Ridge Partners, also did not use their cards.
The remaining outside directors did make use of their cards, some of them, apparently, liberally. In its proxy, the company listed only the tax gross up amount paid to each director, related to use of the dining card. That amount would be much less than the value of the meals received.
Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas and a partner in the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, received a gross up of $1,022. Rosendo Parra, a retired Dell executive, received $528. Erle Nye, chairman emeritus of TXU, the giant utility company being acquired by private equity firms, received $415. And James Oesterreicher, the retired chairman of J.C. Penney, received $250.
Keep in mind that the average meal (food and drinks) at Chili’s, Romano’s and On the Border generates less than $15.50 in revenue, according to Brinker’s 10-K. The average meal revenue at Maggianos is $25.80.
-
The People Behind the X Prize
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
-
Global Network Searches for Fossett
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
-
Mark Warner Running for Senate
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
-
Ellison in court over America’s Cup
The battle for the America’s Cup is being fought not on the high seas but in New York State Supreme…
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, whose team lost the race this year, has accused winner Ernesto Bertarelli of manipulating the rules governing the next cup.
The court case, filed by the Golden Gate Yacht Club, charges that Bertarelli’s team has accepted a challenge from a team with no standing, and has refused to disclose design specifications for boats sailing in the race. Bertarelli’s group, Societe Nautique de Geneve, has turned the competition into a “Defender’s Cup,” the suit charges.
Justice Herman Kahn has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 22.
Ellison is known not only for his love of sailing, but for his fierce competitiveness. He owns the world’s second-largest private yacht, the 454-foot Rising Sun, which was designed to be longer than Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s yacht, Octopus.
However, as Robert Frank has noted in the Wall Street Journal Wealth Report, Ellison is building a new boat. The Rising Sun, it turns out, is too big to park at most of the world’s marinas.
On the web
New York Supreme Court sets October hearing date on America’s Cup lawsuit – International Herald Tribune
Billionaire Boat Battle – Forbes
Ellison’s New Yacht – Wall Street Journal -
A Change of Course for Indymac
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
-
New School Touched by Hsu Scandal
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
-
Murdoch Gets Taste of His Own Medicine
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
-
Judith Miller Joins Think Tank
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.