Comments on: Ralph Lauren’s Proxy is a Pageturner!

By: Alligator

Alligator — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:16:05 +0000

Looking forward to the expose on Martha Stewart. Now, that will be good beach reading!

By: Michelle Leder

Michelle Leder — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:24:41 +0000

Fair enough @Alligator and Jake. Companies where there’s a majority owner do behave differently. Still, we don’t think it hurts to point some of this out.

By: Jake Kaldenbaugh

Jake Kaldenbaugh — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:11:25 +0000

I tend to agree with Alligator. The public needs to learn that when they buy stock in a closely-held company, they’re buying stock in a company that is very much controlled and will not act like one where the ownership is dispersed. In other words, it’s Ralph’s company and Ralph can pay himself however he likes. His rubric is simply whether that amount of compensation will sink the company or not. If not and he feels like he’s invested appropriately and there’s enough left over for a $20MM payday, then he’s got every right to take it. Trust me, it’s not anymore fun for private minority shareholders either.

By: Alligator

Alligator — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:15:15 +0000

Ralph does own/control over 85% of the voting power of the company (see table on p. 11), so I guess he’s consulted with the major shareholders on these decisions. Closely-held companies (including Berkshire Hathaway) tend to play by a different set of rules than widely-held public companies.