SiliconBeat

It appears that the job of leading JDS Uniphase is slightly less valuable on a cash basis these days. The new chief executive as of Jan. 1, Thomas Waechter, will be paid $700,000 a year in salary, $100,000 less than the current CEO, Kevin Kennedy, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. Waechter, who joined the company a year ago in October, is currently an executive vice president in charge of JDS’s communications test & measurement group.

Kennedy, who told the company in October he would be resigning, isn’t going far. Like so many executives, he’ll be retained as a consultant for awhile, and he’ll continue Read the rest of this entry »

JDS Uniphase revealed that it will pay Kevin Kennedy, its departing chief executive, a $400,000 bonus within seven days after he leaves on Dec. 31. That was the minimum bonus guaranteed him, no matter what the performance of the company was that year.

Kennedy, who informed the company in October of his plan to step down, will also be paid Read the rest of this entry »

Less than two years after a policy was approved to reimburse him for the use of his private aircraft on business trips, JDS Uniphase Chief Executive Kevin Kennedy sold his plane, according to the company’s proxy issued in advance of its Nov. 12 annual meeting.

The audit committee of the company’s board of directors approved the policy in June 2006. The policy limited the reimbursement to $2,100 per flight hour plus a 12.5% fuel surcharge rate. The policy limited the amount of reimbursement to $800,000 per year. The rates were established “following review of fair market rates applicable to the rental and use of similar aircraft.”

We could find no Read the rest of this entry »

JDS Uniphase boosted the size of its board from nine to ten and named Penelope Herscher to the extra seat, according to an SEC filing today. Herscher (pictured) is chief executive of FirstRain, a search-driven research firm. Prior to that, she was chief marketing officer at Cadence Design Systems, which she joined after it acquired Simplex Solutions, where she was chief executive from 1996 to 2002. She also serves on the board of Rambus.

To welcome her to the board, Herscher gets restricted stock units that were valued at Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who followed my earlier post about the JDS Uniphase (ticker:JDSU) securities trial, here’s a quick update. I stopped by the U.S. Federal District Court in Oakland this morning. Under the original calendar, today was supposed to be the final day of the trial.

But not surprisingly, things have gotten pushed back a couple of days. As of now, it looks like closing arguments will start sometime on Monday (maybe) and continue through at least Tuesday. I’ll be trying to get back there for closing arguments next week and will keep you posted.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the beginning of the securities litigation trial against JDS Uniphase (ticker:JDSU) of Milpitas. It’s pretty rare that such cases go to trial. But the state of Connecticut, the plaintiff in this class action, managed to push the case all the way to trial. And JDSU refused to settle.

On Monday, the case heads into its final week. So what’s at stake? JDS provided a reminder last week when it filed its latest 10-Q. Under the section related to litigation, JDS gave its own view of this question:

“Although the complaint does not specify the precise amount of damages sought, Plaintiffs have stated in recent court filings that they intend to seek a verdict of more than $20 billion in alleged damages. Plaintiffs’ expert witness on damages has generally testified to that effect in the pending jury trial. While there are many potential outcomes of the pending trial, in the event of a final, non-appealable and enforceable judgment against the Company that is in an amount commensurate with the Plaintiffs’ maximum theory of damages, it would not have sufficient assets to pay such a judgment.”

A jury likely won’t return a verdict until after Thanksgiving. And even then, JDS would probably exhaust all appeals if it loses. But essentially, everything is at stake for JDS. It’s betting the company that it can beat this thing.

It seems so long ago that JDS Uniphase (ticker:JDSU) was a stock market darling. That was back in 2000 before the San Jose fiber optic collapsed into a heap in early 2001.

Six years later, well, things are sorta better. The company still exists. That’s good. And in 2007, it lost $26.3 million, which was a lot less than the $151.2 million it lost the year before. And revenue went up to $1.4 billion in 2007 from $1.2 billion in 2006.

Apparently those results have made the board giddy. Last month, they disclosed in their proxy that they paid CEO Kevin Kennedy $6.1 million in 2007, a figure that includes $575,000 in annual salary, a bonus of $425,000, and $5.1 million in new stock and options.

But since happy days are here again at JDS, Kennedy got another big smooch from the board. In an 8-K filed on Tuesday, the company disclosed the terms of his new employment agreement. It includes a raise in annual pay to $800,000 and the potential to earn an annual bonus worth up to $1 million.

Kennedy also signed a new severance agreement that would give him three years of salary in a lump sum and three years worth of bonuses. That’s potentially worth $5.4 million, not counting all the options and stock goodies.

Unfortunately, none of this has helped shareholders. Kennedy joined the company on Sept. 1, 2003, when the stock was trading at a split-adjusted $27.60 per share. On Tuesday, the stock was trading at $15.78. It’s also slightly down from a year ago when it was trading around $17.00 per share.

If only JDS made time machines so it could take investors back to July 26, 2000. Closing price of the stock: A split-adjusted $1,087.52 per share.