Thursday, April 03, 2003

Taking stock EDS won't be paying the same type of outrageous compensation package to new CEO Michael Jordan as it did to the ousted Dick Brown. According to the Dallas Morning News, Jordan and other execs hired this year will receive less cash and more stock options in an attempt to link pay to performance. Jordan will receive a mere $1 million in salary, compared to Brown's $1.5 million. His targeted bonus will be $1.5 million, including $540,000 in cash. The remainder of the compensation is in stock options. Of course, the rub is that, historically, stock options haven't been an effective device to tie executive pay to company performance. Rather, execs favored short-term strategies designed solely to bump up the balance sheet with no regard to long-term consequences. By the time a company was called to account for the short-sighted moves, the exec was long gone, usually with a generous severance package. Can you say "Dick Brown"? I knew that you could. 9:05:38 AM    Oh yeah? []