Broadcasting division President Dave Lougee made $290,000 yesterday and Friday when he exercised options on 21,250 shares, according to a new regulatory filing.
The "strike price" -- the amount Lougee paid -- was $3.75 a share. He sold the shares for an average $17.35 and $17.40 each, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday.
Options are a common way to pay executives. They allow recipients to buy shares from a company at a fixed price, now matter how much higher they're worth in the broader market. Gannett discontinued granting options starting this year, however, in favor of paying executives with so-called restricted shares.
Lougee's timing was good. GCI's stock recently traded this afternoon at $16.96, down 3.8%, on a day when the broader market is sharply lower after the presidential election.
Lougee's stock involved options that he and 10 other top executives received in 2009, when GCI was trading near historic lows.
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Options are a common way to pay executives. They allow recipients to buy shares from a company at a fixed price, now matter how much higher they're worth in the broader market. Gannett discontinued granting options starting this year, however, in favor of paying executives with so-called restricted shares.
Lougee's timing was good. GCI's stock recently traded this afternoon at $16.96, down 3.8%, on a day when the broader market is sharply lower after the presidential election.
Lougee's stock involved options that he and 10 other top executives received in 2009, when GCI was trading near historic lows.
Getting while the getting is good. The Gannettoid Way.
ReplyDeleteLougee's sale should tell you something:
ReplyDeleteHow will Gannett's earnings fare in the next year or so, now that the firehose of PAC money has dried up? This will especially hurt the broadcast properties.
GCI should be a good short sale as we head for the fiscal cliff.
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ReplyDeleteElection over....Lougee getting paid before the getting gets bad.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, why the hell wouldn’t Lougee sell now as waiting until next year will cost him and anyone else who’d be pushed over the $250k income target dearly.
ReplyDeleteLike it or not, it’s unfortunately a smart play given Obama’s planned tax policies, ones that are also accelerating the sales of businesses and all here know to well what happens when entities like Gannett take over…heads roll to pay for it.
Yes, there is going to be a lot of chaos, now. DJ30 dropped 2.4% today.
ReplyDeleteGet used to beans and rice. Going to get ugly.
Come on... Dave has lost millions in the Gannett downturn, a scant amount of it his fault (broadcast). He saw his stock grants go underwater because of poor leadership in the community publishing division.
ReplyDeleteThe $3.75 per share grants were about 3% of what he was owed even if the stock went to $21. These prior year grants were part of his compensation, and they are all worthless.
Please. Give the guy a break. He's the one who managed a business that kept the entire corporation from sinking into bankruptcy. He should be paid a lot more than this $290,000... it's not even close to what he is owed.
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ReplyDeleteI cannot believe you removed that last comment, Jim. Lighten the fuck up. For anyone to maintain that Loughee is "owed" anything is ridiculous.
ReplyDelete1:01 I removed it because a poster made fun of Lougee's name in a really gross way.
ReplyDeleteThere has been so much B.S. in the last year, most have become numb to reality, but for the record --
ReplyDelete1. A LOT of people have lost money in his "great economy." He ain't the only one.
2. Selling now, without a clear statement why -- yes, I know, the G.D. lawyers are involved -- implicitly sends a message. As in, "things look bad, I'm getting out."
Which, of course, is NOT what Ms. Gracia and the other Gannettoid cud-chewers want.
Then again, when you've got a CFO who spends as much time out of the office as in, WTF is fooled?
Have a mediocre day, Ms. Gracia. You've earned it.
Lets not turn division against division. Suffice to say USCP has earned the overwhelming majority of profits and revenues for GCI for a long time, and continues to do so. Not taking anything away from the great performance of Broadcasting and Lougee.
ReplyDeleteBC could have NEVER been purchased w/o USCP.
ReplyDeleteAnd that said, so much has been borrowed against the taxpayers by "leaders" -- $16,200,000,000,000.00+ -- everyone has got a "world of hurt," awaiting them.
Yeah, we know -- Bush's fault. Got it.
He is management. He is not royalty. He is not owed anything. If the company performs and the stock goes up, he can profit. If not, tough toenails.
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem with the 1 percenters. They think they are owed something, as if they are special. They arent.
I am sure mother Gannett will take care of him This year. Lets see what he does for the company going forward, post election and Olympics.
10:13, a lot of Americans think "This is the problem with unions. They think they are owed something, as if they are special. They aren't."
ReplyDeleteHave a day.
We arent talking about unions. We are talking about the attitude of a highly compensated executive. If ne's that good, he can test the market for his services and make up his "lost millions" elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 8:44. Those two divisions seem to be working together better than they ever have. Let's not pit them against each other. Dickey and Lougee seem to work well together.
ReplyDelete9:28, you need to be careful what you and Jim wish for. What if he left, and BC tanks, and USCP tanks?
ReplyDeleteThe GCI board should have given options to all BC employees. Then again, stupid seems to be epidemic today.
How much value did loughee actually bring, and how much was it reslly lucjk and good fortune? Gannett owns TV in seversl battleground states where political ad spending was off the charts. He didnt have a hand in acquiring those stations, Gannett had them for years.. Many of these stations are NBC affliates with Olympic broadcast rights. Loughee had nothing to do with the network getting the rights to the Games, either. Being at the right place at the right time is as much luck as anything else. Reminds me of Gannett's good old days, when newspaper publishers were local gladhands and did little as ad money rolled into the media monopoly from dept. stores, auto dealerships and realtors.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, he has made a laughing stock of the third rated Gannett station in Washington, D.C.
2:46, why not give Gannett shares to all employees? They've been buying enough of it back.
ReplyDelete9:28. Top execs and union employees.......both epitomize the definition of entitlement.
ReplyDelete