The road to perksville…
So Dec. 15 is finally here and any SEC filings geek worth their salt knows what that means: big-time changes when it comes to disclosure of compensation and perks. Among the biggest changes is lowering the perks bar from $50,000 down to $10,000 for top executives and requiring companies to start including a “total compensation” figure. Of course, the changes don’t actually kick in today, but rather, impacts any company whose fiscal year ends after Dec. 15.
Yet, already, we’re starting to see companies respond to some of the changes. For example, late last week, Lockheed Martin (LMT) disclosed in this 8-K that it would stop paying for a wide variety of perks beginning Jan. 1. Among those on the chopping block are country club initiation and membership fees, Town Cars for local transportation, and tickets to various sporting and entertainment events. The company will also stop paying for tax preparation and financial planning services for top executives. In exchange, the company gave modest raises to its top executives to cover the lost perks.
It’s still too early to say how other companies will react to the additional disclosure. But clearly companies are worried that the $10,000 threshold will lead to all sorts of embarrassing stories of CEO excess.
â¦â¦â¦â¦
We’re going to try a little experiment here today: I found something in my routine trawl of the filings that I’ve decided to password protect. To access the post, you will first need to make a $50 donation to footnoted.org and I will send you the password. Because this type of information is best when it is limited, this will only be available to the first 20 people who contact me on Friday. Please put “password” in the subject line.
And now a word about why I’m doing this, since I’m a big advocate of full disclosure. As I mentioned when I spoke at the Hearst New Media Program at Columbia last month, digging through the filings is taking more of my time. While there have been several generous donations and many smaller ones, they have all gone toward upgrading and maintaining the site. I know that there’s a fair number of institutional investors (and those who service them) who read footnoted.org regularly and this experiment is designed for them, although individual investors are welcome to participate. Depending on how well this works, I will either start doing this on a somewhat regular basis (letting the filings dictate the frequency) or will begin exploring other options to monetize some of footnoted.org’s unique and highly-respected content. If you have any suggestions or comments on this, please post them below or contact me directly.
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December 17th, 2006 at 9:47 am
I already stated my opinion but at least you are being clever in your approach.
While too poor to trade off your tidbits it seems to me that you now are doing, with the information that you work so hard to get, what the dark side has always done. Sort of “outsider trading” as opposed to insider trading. Proof once again that there will never be a level playing field when it comes to money/investing.
Keep the site available to at least the first twenty people with no money who sign on.
You are the best!
Good luck.
December 18th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
This site is available to everyone who shows up. Exactly one items costs $. Compare that to the Wall St. Journal or the New York Times, neither of which come up with the gems Michelle Leder finds and neither of which is completely free.
Michelle hasn’t gone over the the dark side. She’s just trying to stop going over to the bankrupt side. She deserves a medal and lots more donations. Unfortunately, as an underpaid freelancer myself, I can’t afford to put my money where my mouth is. Not yet, anyway.
December 20th, 2006 at 9:24 am
I apologize if you interpreted my reference to “the dark side” as an inclusion of,my idol,Ms.Leder. All I wanted to say was that she might,legally,do with her hard work what WallStreet has always done. If the site becomes a paid only site the great unwashed masses (myself included) will still be excluded, but more power to her!
The WSJ and the NYT’s are now,and have always been (for the most part) part of the problem,where people like Michelle represent a cure of sorts.
That said,perhaps corporations will take evasive action to avoid having to reveal their dirty secrets and to protect “insiders” both within and outside the corporation.
Time will tell.
I stick with my suggestion that IF the site becomes a paid only site,perhaps a small number of slots could be left open for free on a first come-first serve basis.
Again,I reference BANKINVESTOR.COM. It was a GREAT free site for people who could not afford SNL and other services. The message boards were informative. And it was closed to people(unless you paid hundreds of dollars) and turned into a for-profit site after a few years. No reason,other than greed.The same kind of greed that keep bankers bloated.
Keep up the great work Michelle.
December 20th, 2006 at 11:24 am
I plan to post more about this issue on Friday and keep the post up through the long weekend, though I realize people may have more important issues on their mind.
The vast majority of Footnoted.org’s content will continue to be free and supported by advertising as well as donations. If everyone who read this site regularly donated a small amount each month, say $5, this wouldn’t even be an issue and the site could even remain ad-free. But that hasn’t happened. And the fact is that parsing SEC filings for interesting nuggets is very time-consuming — more so than before, as companies go to greater lengths to hide stuff. Think of footnoted.org like public radio or your local public television station. You don’t have to pay anything, but it would be nice if you did.
More about this subject on Friday.
December 21st, 2006 at 9:15 am
With all the press you have received (well deserved) you should just blanket this site with advertising. I do not object to all sorts of ads and it should be a lay-up for you to get many,many advertisers.
I do not play lotto so there is no chance of any “found money” in my future.
My kids absorb cash like sponges with their activities.
I have not worked in eleven years so I can’t send you anything on payday.
My “investments” would be rejected at Payatas outside Manila!
Open or closed–keep up the GREAT WORK!