SiliconBeat

Aryx Therapeutics, the the Fremont biopharmaceutical whose shares were slammed last July when Procter & Gamble pulled out of a partnership in developing Aryx’s drug to treat chronic constipation and abdominal pain, filed its proxy today ahead of its May 20 annual meeting.

In February 2008 the board’s compensation committee established Read the rest of this entry »

Take heart, older workers. There’s an employer looking for you: Uncle Sam.It seems that about one-third of the federal workforce will become eligible to retire between now and 2012, according to a report by the General Accountability Office. That percentage rises to nearly half at some departments, such as Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, and at the Agency for International Development and the Small Business Administration.

For certain occupations, the numbers represent more than half, like customs and border protection agents and air traffic controllers. (uh-oh).

The report notes that, “Overall, the federal government already has a number of characteristics that appeal to all employees and is making progress toward becoming a model employer of older, experienced workers. For example, federal employees can telecommute, work flexible hours, and receive health and retirement benefits that older workers find especially attractive.”

One agency, the Social Security Administration, which is said to be in danger of losing a “substantial portion” of its workforce to retirement, has been offering “recruitment, retention, and relocation bonuses” to lure workers.

That’s the same agency that is said to be in danger of running out of money sometime in the next thirty or forty years, right?

For Atmel (ticker:ATML), 2007 probably won’t be a year to remember. Revenues were down slightly from 2006. Profits were up a bit. And on Tuesday, the stock closed at $3.24 per share, off its 52-week high of $6.08.

Steven Laub, president and CEO of Atmel, need not despair. Laub joined the company in August 2006, and so 2007 marked the first full year under his tenure. According to a proxy filed on Tuesday, the board gave him a pay package worth $5.57 million, including a cash bonus of $968,333.

Why? Read the rest of this entry »