Saturday, November 19, 2005

Another Gross-up Example

Another American icon, Georgia Pacific, will likely be sold to Koch Industries. The CEO of Georgia-Pacific will receive 1% of the acquisition price. You may think that 1% is not much, but we're talking a $13.2 billion acquisition here. So, the CEO gets $130 million in addition to his 'regular' retirement pension of $1.4 million annually.

Fair to the shareholders? Will the company also 'gross up' the 1%?

1 comment:

Flimsy Sanity said...

Koch Industries is a creepy outfit. Check out this article by the Center for Public Integrity. This is from the article - Although it is both a top campaign contributor and spends millions on direct lobbying, Koch's chief political influence tool is a web of interconnected, right-wing think tanks and advocacy groups funded by foundations controlled and supported by the two Koch brothers.

Among those groups are some of the country's most prominent conservative and libertarian voices including the Cato Institute, the Reason Foundation, Citizens for a Sound Economy and the Federalist Society. All regularly beat the drum in official Washington for the causes the Koch's hold dear—minimal government, deregulation, and free market economics.

For the Kochs, conservative and libertarian views are a family tradition. Fred Koch, who founded the company's predecessor in 1940, helped establish the ultra right-wing John Birch Society.