Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

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  1

  Mcbsmith

  07/06/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

  BNET Reporter Sensationalizes Speculative Meaning Out of Executive's Tax Issues!
  
  
  
  
  Erik - this is some of the worst reporting I have read in a while. Bnet is too good for this - usually-. You are missing the point when you slant this transacion in the way you are doing. This transaction is completely transparent.
  
  You are creating "meaning" that isn't remotely accurate and that kind of thing is unnecessarily damaging to the company, the shareholders and to thier employees. It casts an image that is obviously not true!
  
  This is a very common practice to deal wth compensation and tax issues.
  
  What I am curious about is how you think the executive and the company should have dealt with the share and tax issue beyond what they have done?
  
  Don't sensationalize unnecessarily. It hurts your credibility and makes your reporting appear naive. I have counted on BNET for great quality information until now. I would expect this from from some kind of grocery store tabloid.
  
  

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  2

  tramky

  07/06/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

  Yes, this is transparent, and the message is quite clear. Do as the executives DO, not as they SAY! When you have stock in a company that is UP for you, SELL IT! Especially when executives in that company are selling it. This can be a very hard lesson. Waiting for the stock to go up even more may be VERY foolish. Witness Worldcom, the corrupt, bankrupt company that has disappeared from the face of the earth.
  
  I know one former employee who at one point had stock options worth over $30,000 on the market at one time. Deciding to have faith in his employer and not in any hurry for gains, he kept those shares on hand rather than selling them. And watched them go to ZERO and then complete obliteration & vaporization.
  
  When your stock in your employer is UP, sell it. When it goes down, start looking for a new job with a different company.

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  3

  ErikSherman

  07/06/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

  I don't think I sensationalized. I certainly didn't say that the transaction wasn't transparent. I'm saying that it's not smart. No matter what the reason, when a company has been on shaky ground, seeing a new CEO sell stock is a bad sign to employees and to investors. Even if there is a "logical" reason, you have the emotional reaction.
  
  There are plenty of ways that the board could have compensated Bartz to avoid what should have been a predictable sale if it was indeed necessary. It could have given her a stock grant on the basis of some significant achievement milestones. She could have been given a cash bonus, if she demanded some signing bonus. She could have been given stock options at a tiny cost with the previso that she hold the stock for a year. She could have taken the stock and then paid the taxes out of her pocket, as I suspect she has a fair amount of personal wealth. But, no, she got stock up front and had to sell to pay taxes, at least that's what the filing said. Given the position the company is in, it's not smart, even if completely legal and fairly common.

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  4

  bugzappy

  07/06/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

  I'm with mcbsmith.
  
  If Bartz had sold 75% of her shares for $1M (for the sake of
  argument) then we would be very concerned about the
  immediate future of Yahoo! and she would be under
  investigation by the SEC.
  
  Bartz sold 7.5% of her shares, for $1M. She appears to be
  under investigation by BNET.
  
  

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  5

  ErikSherman

  07/06/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

  Because this is a blog for the industry and not strictly investor-focused, I'm looking at the management issue of panicking employees and creating ill-will. No matter what the reason, it still reads to those who went through significant downsizing and who are presumably being told to hold on for better times that the CEO is cashing out as quickly as she can. It's clearly not an SEC issue, but legality doesn't mean that it's smart from a management viewpoint.

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  6

  abel.henry

  07/07/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

  Bugzappy provides the significant piece of information that
  adds balance to the story | "Bartz sold 7.5% of her shares".
  To Erik Sherman's defense this data is implicitly provided if
  one chooses to do the math. However, this raises the
  question as to why this important stat was not provided explicative especially since Eric admits that this article is not
  only intended for quantitative centric professionals. I can see
  why readers are cautioning Eric to up his game to avoid losing
  long-term credibility in pursuit of short-term exposure.

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  7

  abel.henry

  07/07/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz Selling More Than $1M in Shares

  explicately...not explicative...hmmm but maybe so...LOL