My front-page column in the Mercury News on the Yahoo proxy fight with Carl Icahn drew some strong responses from readers. I’ll stand by my prediction that Icahn would win a shareholder vote on Aug. 1, but there are some things I want to clarify about my feelings and perspective on this mess.
First, let’s go the readers’ comments. Read the rest of this entry »
The last few months have been rough on tech stocks. And as such, SanDisk (ticker:SNDK) is hardly alone in watching its stock price get cut in half:
It was a particularly challenging year for the flash memory company, which instituted a temporary salary reduction from March 2007 to August for its executive officers, ranging from 15 percent to 20 percent. The cut was part of an overall cost reduction program to help the company remain competitive as the price of flash memory continues to dip.
Earlier this week, we noted that Oracle’s acquisition binge has reshaped the company’s workforce, with almost one-third of employees having joined through those purchases.
It turns out that the executive ranks are also being altered. A proxy filed Wednesday as part of Oracle’s (ticker:ORCL) pending acquisition of Bea Systems (ticker:BEAS) includes a PowerPoint presentation by President Charles Phillips extolling the virtue of the combination.
Among the upsides for BEA employees about to be eaten alive join Oracle is the opportunity, some day, to be running the joint. Just check out this slide that lists current execs who joined the company through acquisitions:
Can we assume that one day that slide will include someone with the CEO title?
We all know that Oracle (ticker:ORCL) has been buying everything with a pulse the last few years. The only thing that would make an Oracle acquisition news again would be some crazy, hostile bid for Microsoft (Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease…).
Still, a proxy filed Friday by the soon-to-be-Oracle-roadkill BEA Systems (ticker:BEAS) reminds us just how far the scorched-earth campaign has gone.
The proxy included a mostly unhelpful Q&A designed to answer (0r not answer) questions that BEA employees might have about what happens to them after the merger. Apparently one of their burning questions is: “How many acquisitions has Oracle completed?”
To which the answer is: More than 40 in the past three years.
Even more interesting: Almost one out of three Oracle employees joined the company through one of those mergers, according to the proxy.
That’s a lot strangers at the company picnic.
As we noted below, there’s the moola that Chuang made last year. But then there’s what he could make this year — depending on what happens next in the Oracle deal.
Back in January, Oracle (ticker:ORCL) finally coughed up enough money to buy BEA Systems (ticker:BEAS). In the proxy were wrote about previously, the company also disclosed the details of payments that executives would receive under a “change in control.” For that to be triggered, the company has to be sold (check!) AND the exec has to be let go without cause.
In that case, here are following potential pay outs:
An interesting footnote on Chuang’s potential windfall comes under the category of “Perquisites” where it says he gets $418,600 for: “an automobile and driver ($188,000), credit card fees ($2,500), and directed charitable contributions ($6,800).” The severance covers two years. He also gets $50,000 for “Outplacement” services.
Of course, Chuang still owns 9.48 million shares of stock. So with Oracle offering to pay $19.375 per share in cach, that $183.675 million should help Chuang get through a couple of lean months — if he’s let go — while those outplacement folks help him find another job.
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