The Archives

Everything written by Bill Sjostrom on law, economics, and more

Disney/Pixar Deal: $6 Billion for Lasseter

The Slate has an interesting take on the Disney/Pixar deal.  In an article entitled “The $6 Billion Man,” Edward Jay Epstein asserts that Disney is essentially paying $6 billion to obtain the services of John Lasseter, Pixar’s creative guru.  Lasseter’s salary last year was about $2.8 million, and the value of his Pixar shares and ... Disney/Pixar Deal: $6 Billion for Lasseter

More on Hedge Fund Adviser Registration

Following up on this post, according to an article in today’s FT, 1,000 hedge fund advisers had already registered with the SEC prior to adoption of the registration requirement, so it appears that about 1,800 hedge fund advisers will be registered. Again, there are an estimated 8,000 hedge funds. Granted some advisers likely manage more ... More on Hedge Fund Adviser Registration

SEC Executive Compensation Proposal Now Available

Click here for the SEC’s 370 page proposing release “Executive Compensation and Related Party Disclosure.” I think I’ll hold off on printing it out until I’m at work. [hat tip: Broc]

Are Buyout Funds Appropriating Profits?

Today’s NYT has a sobering article entitled Public Companies, Singing the Blues. The article discusses a question raised by Daniel Loeb, a famous hedge fund manager, at a dinner of buyout kings in Davos, Switzerland (the site of the World Economic Forum). Loeb’s question: “Why can buyout firms take public companies private and make enormous ... Are Buyout Funds Appropriating Profits?

Hedge Fund Registration Requirement

The hedge fund registration requirements debated extensively in the blawgosphere a few months back (see, e.g., here, here, and here) will take effect on Wednesday of next week. According to this article in the W$J, so far 530 hedge fund advisers have registered and a few hundred more are expected before Wednesday. Recent estimates put ... Hedge Fund Registration Requirement

Disney/Pixar Deal and Omnicare

The Disney/Pixar deal is a hot topic in the blawgosphere (see, e.g., here, here, here and here), so I want to join in. I took a quick look at the transaction documents (they’re now available here on the SEC’s website) and noticed that Steve Jobs has executed a voting agreement (here) pursuant to which he ... Disney/Pixar Deal and Omnicare

Golfing: Scholarship or Distraction?

Click here to read about the $38 million home Tiger Woods recently purchased.  Maybe I should give up blogging so I have more time to work on my golf game.

Questionable Boston Scientific Press Release

This story in yesterday’s Boston Herald asserts that during the bidding war for Guidant between J&J and Boston Scientific (BSX), BSX “used highly questionable investment advice to swing the battle their way and give their stock a good ‘pop.’� Specifically, BSX put out a press release that quoted various Wall Street analysts endorsing the BSX ... Questionable Boston Scientific Press Release

The Ban on General Solicitation and Advertising

I blogged last week about the recommendations concerning Sarbanes-Oxley 404 adopted by the SEC Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies at a meeting on 12/14/05 (see here).  The transcript of the meeting is now available on the SEC’s website (click here).  Today I want to talk about a different recommendation adopted by the committee that ... The Ban on General Solicitation and Advertising

Google Executive Compensation

In an SEC filing yesterday (click here), Google disclosed that in 2006 each of its top three executives, Eric Schmidt (CEO), Sergey Brin (President of Technology), and Larry Page (President of Products), will receive a base salary of $1.00, as they did in 2005. It’s not like they have historically gotten huge bonuses either. According ... Google Executive Compensation

Harvey Pitt on Sarbanes-Oxley

Click here for a Forbes article by Harvey Pitt on Sarbanes-Oxley. Pitt was chairman of the SEC during the passage of SOX. The article is balanced. Pitt points out some benefits of SOX: The 2005 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report on S-Ox surveyed more than 200 financial executives and found a significant majority believe that, ... Harvey Pitt on Sarbanes-Oxley

Proposed Executive Compensation Rules and Foreign Companies

This CFO.com article reports that foreign companies will be exempt from portions of the proposed SEC executive compensation rules (they will only have to report total compensation unless required to provide more disclosure in their home countries). The article characterizes this as a “small bone being thrown to foreign companies, . . .; many of ... Proposed Executive Compensation Rules and Foreign Companies