Las Vegas casino kingpin Steve Wynn enjoyed more than a million dollars' worth of personal travel last year on his company's private jet, The New York Times reports today, in its annual survey of executive pay across Corporate America.
Wynn may have been one of the heaviest users of that sky-high executive perk, but he was by no means the only one, according to the NYT.
For years, Gannett's top brass also has gotten occasional personal use of the company's aircraft. But its exact dollar value last year wasn't spelled out when the company reported executive pay figures for 2012 in last month's annual proxy report to shareholders.
The aircraft perk is disclosed in a footnote to the "all other compensation" column in the report's summary compensation table. The table breaks down how much the highest-earning executives got in salary, bonuses and other benefits.
Although the footnote details some of the all-other, much is not revealed. For example, CEO Gracia Martore got $117,283. But less than half is spelled out, and most of it is a $31,000 company paid life-insurance premium.
Hidden within $63K?
So, to the extent that Martore used the jet, its value is buried in the more than $63,000 that isn't detailed. Also included in that $63K would be the value of her company car, plus supplemental medical coverage, and legal and financial advice.
Her total 2012 pay, including an increase in the value of her pension account: $8.5 million.
Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. newspaper division, got $125,612 in all-other compensation. But, like Martore, nearly $63,000 went unexplained in the proxy report. His total 2012 pay: $3.8 million.
Across corporations, executive perks draw shareholder fire when they appear excessive or come despite poor financial performance of the company itself. For the 100 highest-paid CEOs among American companies with revenue of more than $5 billion, the typical 2012 perks package was worth $320,635, according to an analysis by Equilar for the NYT.
In Gannett's case, Martore has sought to limit some perks in order to project a more egalitarian, everyone-share-the-pain image as the company in recent years held down wage increases and laid off tens of thousands of workers. Soon after she was promoted to CEO in October 2011, she eliminated reserved parking for the top brass in the garage adjoining Corporate's headquarters in McLean, Va.
Starting last year, company cars are no longer provided to new senior executives. And, starting this year, the Gannett Foundation will no longer earmark up to $15,000 in grants to favored charities of newly hired top execs, according to the proxy report.
 |
| Wynn |
For years, Gannett's top brass also has gotten occasional personal use of the company's aircraft. But its exact dollar value last year wasn't spelled out when the company reported executive pay figures for 2012 in last month's annual proxy report to shareholders.
The aircraft perk is disclosed in a footnote to the "all other compensation" column in the report's summary compensation table. The table breaks down how much the highest-earning executives got in salary, bonuses and other benefits.
Although the footnote details some of the all-other, much is not revealed. For example, CEO Gracia Martore got $117,283. But less than half is spelled out, and most of it is a $31,000 company paid life-insurance premium.
Hidden within $63K?
So, to the extent that Martore used the jet, its value is buried in the more than $63,000 that isn't detailed. Also included in that $63K would be the value of her company car, plus supplemental medical coverage, and legal and financial advice.
Her total 2012 pay, including an increase in the value of her pension account: $8.5 million.
Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. newspaper division, got $125,612 in all-other compensation. But, like Martore, nearly $63,000 went unexplained in the proxy report. His total 2012 pay: $3.8 million.
Across corporations, executive perks draw shareholder fire when they appear excessive or come despite poor financial performance of the company itself. For the 100 highest-paid CEOs among American companies with revenue of more than $5 billion, the typical 2012 perks package was worth $320,635, according to an analysis by Equilar for the NYT.
In Gannett's case, Martore has sought to limit some perks in order to project a more egalitarian, everyone-share-the-pain image as the company in recent years held down wage increases and laid off tens of thousands of workers. Soon after she was promoted to CEO in October 2011, she eliminated reserved parking for the top brass in the garage adjoining Corporate's headquarters in McLean, Va.
Starting last year, company cars are no longer provided to new senior executives. And, starting this year, the Gannett Foundation will no longer earmark up to $15,000 in grants to favored charities of newly hired top execs, according to the proxy report.
An interesting report here, but reading the figures (never mind the jet travel) I'm still trying to hold my lunch down. These people, not a single one, have done anything to justify the money they make - except to their reflection in some executive wash room mirror. Yet it's culturally accepted. Sick.
ReplyDeleteIt's the shateholders' money. They can do what they want with their own resources, same as you can.
DeleteHey 4:24, tell that to the poor employees who are browbeaten into donating their pay to the United Way.
DeleteI've been around long enough to know the difference between the composition of one Gannett board and another. Years! The folks in the past were not exactly stellar but at least they were motivated and sincere, and here and there even had backgrounds in legitimate journalism. I know, wild, right? Then I compare the current members, this incestuous group holding positions on several other boards, elite in name only.
ReplyDeleteSome would say that if I'm so damn smart (always the first retort made by business-level Neanderthals), why don't I just walk into a board meeting and provide the cure for stupidity.
I won't. No offense to so many people, no fault of their own professionalism who are adversely affected by the current "leadership," but I hope (and fairly expect) this company and its board to go to hell.
wtf Jim.
DeleteGannett doesn't have a fleet of corporate jets anymore...they've been gone for years and years.
Now possibly Matore and Dickey have used leased jets occasionally, but the trips wouldn't add up to much according to the figures you;re citing.
To have a headline about corporate jets, use Steve Wynn's high-flying photo and then wonder whether jet travel falls under 'other' compensation, well, it's damn misleading.
We expect better.
Yes, you understand annual reports, but reporting is not simply going through documents and conjuring up possible explanations. Does Gannett have a jet policy? Who flies, when? DID anyone use a corporate jet?
It's called asking questions. Really a low-quality item on a Sunday afternoon.
I didn't say Gannett owns any aircraft. And personal aircraft use does, indeed, fall under other compensation. But as I wrote, Corporate isn't disclosing per-executive use costs in its regulatory filings. Finally, if you think Corporate will provide details beyond its SEC disclosures, you don't fully understand its relationship with shareholders.
DeleteRelax 5:20. This is about generating readership for Gannett Blog. Last quarter was the worst reader contribution in GB history. While the Wynn story has nothing to do with Gannett, Jim has resorted to innuendo to try and drum up renewed reader interest. He is actually resorting to the behavior he rails against; he is going tabloid and catering to the prurient interests of his readers. The truth doesn't sell, so he plucks something like the flying habits of a Vegas casino owner and desperately tries to make it a Gannett issue. The truth doesn't sell so he has resorted to making things up. So give the poor guy a break. Without advertising readers are sending him $5 a day. He lives in San Fran. You can't live there on $5 a day.
DeleteJim, this item is an all-time low that wouldn't be published in any publication except a self-edited "blog.''
DeleteThere is no evidence at all that Gannett executives are flying around Wynn-style. In fact, as 5:20 noted, the Gannett "fleet'' of the Neuharth era was sold off more than a decade ago.
Sure, jet use could be hidden in that enormous sum of $63K (wow!), but so could scantily clad poolboys, secret trips to spas or anything else. What nonsense.
This item is just awful and you should be ashamed.
In fact, $63,000 is considerably more than what many of Gannett's employees in the field make in an entire year.
DeleteJim, your point was not about (OMG!) $63K, but insinuating that the money is used for jet-set activities. You should either find out how many times they fly or just admit you actually don't know what the money is used for.
DeleteEven Steve Wynn is ashamed.
In Jim's world, if Corporate "isn't disclosing" something, that means he can run with any assumption he concocts. And because Corporate isn't disclosing those details, he can challenge people to try to prove him wrong. Of course, you can't prove him wrong with details that don't exist.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty sad, but it's his way.
It's not really sad. Anyone who wanted to contradict the assumptions could simply provide the facts. That the company doesn't do that indicates that they are intentionally avoiding transparency.
DeleteSo, in your world, people can just assume anything and run with it?
DeleteLike I said, pretty sad.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who criticizes anything Jim writes is ball-less and spine-less. He has maintained this blog for years, while you dip shits have sat back and taken pot shots. It's his blog and he can write what he wants. If you can do better, start your own blog. If you can't, read this one and STF up. This blog has been a great place for information that you can't get anywhere else -- especially not from Gannett execs. Quit hatin' on Jim and direct your ire at the real problem -- the supposed leaders who are clueless in our digital transition.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can do way better. It's called holding a job! A writing and reporting job, no less.
DeleteJim has perservered, but his artless and cheap innuendo posts lower whatever respect he might have earned.
You all miss the point. The Jim critics are here because it is THEIR JOB. They spend hours and hours trolling the blog looking for ways to counter-spin Jim's stories. Pretty pathetic actually....
Delete12:54, you have no clue. It takes mere seconds with an item like this to question Jim.
DeleteYou must be one of those writers who WORKED SO HARD and ended up with a couple of lame briefs filed at the end of the day.
Most of us have jobs. If you don't like Jim's blog, quit reading it or quit commenting. It's as simple as that. The www is a big world. explore it and don't come back to the Gannett Blog.
ReplyDeleteSo 1:54 when the guy panders to his base and fabricates issues out of whole cloth, we should sit calmly by and let him get away with it? Wow, sorry to for trying to set your Daddy straight. No, I am not going away. I will continue to expose his attempt to drive traffic at the expense of the truth.
ReplyDeleteFootnote 7 says: "Amounts for 2012 reported in this column include . . . occasional personal use of Company aircraft."
ReplyDeleteIt does not say "may" or "could" include.
What I would like to know, is the cost different, between if they took a public plane, basic upon private. Do you have those numbers Jim?
ReplyDeleteOne more time -- asking Jim for analysis is a waste of time. In this case, he's already made it clear he doesn't have that information, nor does he have the ability to get it.
DeleteI do have the ability to get it and I am going to?
Delete@5:20 - it is true that the company no longer owns a fleet of jets, but they do own one jet. They also have contracts with jet leasing companies.
ReplyDeleteThe move away from a fleet of jets began many years ago and includes the cancellation of Gannett's G5 order, the sale of other aircraft (including the helicopter) and eventually the hangar at Dulles airport. Management should be applauded for these efforts at cost control, which actually began under John Curley.
The expense related to using the one company owned jet for personal travel is treated and taxed as compensation to the executive. Rarely, since the Curley era, has the company jet been used for personal travel. It is very expensive. Despite Jim's inference here, no Gannett executive is jetting around the country on personal travel like Steve Wynn.
If you really want to get incensed about an executive perk, take a look at executive medical. That's what separates the Gannett management committee from everyone else that works for the company.
Bullshit. McCorkindale used the corp jet nearly every weekend to go golfing all over the country, and I know it to be true.
DeleteFor 2004, the last full year when McCorkindale was CEO, the company disclosed the following in a footnote in the annual shareholder proxy report:
Delete"In 2003, the Company and Mr. McCorkindale renegotiated his employment contract. The new contract became effective on July 21, 2003 and continues until July 1, 2006, and thereafter from year to year until either the Board or Mr. McCorkindale terminates it on 90 days’ notice before the end of any term. ... The contract provides for various executive perquisites prior to and following his retirement, generally consistent with those received by prior Chief Executive Officers of the Company, including life insurance, travel accident insurance, executive health insurance, legal and financial counseling services, a home security system allowance, an automobile purchase or monthly allowance (plus reimbursement of gas and maintenance), and an allowance for club membership initiation fees and dues. In addition, the Company will provide Mr. McCorkindale substantially similar post-retirement benefits for the remainder of his life as well as ownership of the computer and other home office equipment used at the time of retirement, use of Company aircraft at the then-incremental hourly rate and at times not inconveniencing the Company, and reasonable access to Gannett offices and facilities." (Emphasis added.)
(Note: I do not know whether McCorkindale's contract is still in effect, but I rather doubt it.)
Another footnote referenced $163,317 in a column reporting "all other" compensation to Craig Dubow, who was then president of the broadcasting division. The note said:
"In the case of Mr. Dubow, who relocated from Atlanta, Georgia, to the Company’s headquarters in 2002, this column also includes various relocation benefits, including a country club membership fee of $70,000."
(Note: Gannett no longer pays club membership fees.)
I always laugh when I read what these exec comp packages include. These people make millions a year and yet the company needs to pay for their computer and home security system?
DeleteA car allowance for a publisher or GM makes sense. But how often does Gannett's CEO need to drive with the ad director to Susie's Furniture Barn in order to placate a major account?
DeleteFor a newspaper corporation, one certainly expects them to be transparent, but Gannett is anything but this. And there is a reason... It's embarasing when they (Gannett) is guilty of the vary indulgences that their newspapers report of others.
ReplyDelete