Tag Archives: Bloomberg
How much was former Home Depot CEO really paid?
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That’s the question that Dominic Jones wants answered, and he noted on his IR Web Report blog that he can’t get a straight answer from the business journalists who covered the ouster of Bob Nardelli from the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer.
Jones wrote, “No one seems to know for sure, in part because the figures for 2006 haven’t been published yet. Even so, I’ve seen five different amounts quoted by the same number of media outlets.
“Take a look at the excerpts below:
“From the New York Times: ‘At Home Depot, Mr. Nardelli is expected to receive an exit package worth more than $210 million on top of the nearly $64 million he was paid during his six years at the helm.’
“From the Financial Times: ‘Home Depot said that, under the terms of his contract, Mr Nardelli would receive a severance package worth $210m, in addition to the more than $120m that he has received in compensation since joining the company.’
“From Bloomberg: ‘Home Depot Inc., the world’s largest home-improvement retailer, ousted Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli after investors criticized him for earning $225 million during his six-year tenure.’
“From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: ‘By the end of 2005, Nardelli received packages worth $154.3 million, not counting the value of stock options, since becoming CEO. His pay for 2006 hasn’t been disclosed.’
“From the Associated Press: ‘As of the end of 2005, Nardelli had earned $123.7 million in compensation, excluding certain stock-option grants, since becoming CEO. His compensation for 2006 has not yet been disclosed.’”
Ouch. Read more here.
Fake press release issued
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Bloomberg reported that a fake press release was issued for an Atlanta-based company. Business journalists should care about such issues because they often rely on press releases as the basis for stories.
James Gunsales wrote, “PR Newswire said it distributed a false news release this morning about Innotrac Corp., a call- center and warehouse services operator.
“The bogus press release came from a third-party distributor called eReleases, whose statements are carried on PR Newswire, said Rachel Meranus, a spokeswoman for PR Newswire. The fake statement said Innotrac had won a ‘multiyear, multi-million- dollar’ contract with Siemens AG. Innotrac shares soared before PR Newswire distributed a company release saying the first was unauthorized.
“‘We are reviewing our policy of accepting public company news releases from eReleases,’ Meranus said in an interview. ‘This has sent up a red flag for us.’
“The release, posted at 8:31 a.m. New York time, originated with Baltimore-based eReleases, a press release services company that works with PR Newswire, which is owned by London-based publisher United Business Media plc.
“Atlanta-based Innotrac, which manages warehouses, shipping and customer service call-centers for retail and wholesale companies, distributed a release at 11:13 a.m. characterizing the original release as ‘totally false.”’
Read more here. After Bloomberg and others were caught writing stories from fake releases, the wire service changed its policy and began referring to what newswire the press release originated in its stories.
South China Morning Post biz editor forced to resign
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Stuart Jackson, the South China Morning Post business editor, was forced to resign, and the move was seen as a rebuke of the paper’s editor, former BusinessWeek editor Mark Clifford. Jackson was also an American and had been on the job for less than a year.
Jackson and Clifford had worked together at BusinessWeek, and Jackson had also been a high-ranking editor at Bloomberg News in New York.
Justin Mitchell of the Asia Sentinel wrote, “Jackson, hand-picked by Clifford to overhaul the Post’s business coverage, had been on the job only seven months when he tendered his surprise resignation. The move was largely regarded inside the paper as a reaction by the board of directors to an employee revolt in early November in which more than 100 staffers petitioned the paper’s chairman asking for the reinstatement of two senior editors fired for their minor roles in putting together an off-color, in-house mock front page as a tribute for another employee Clifford had sacked.
“Jackson, like Clifford an American, was previously business editor for the Post’s cross-town rival, The Standard until he followed Clifford from the Standard to the Post in February. In turn Jackson had taken a clutch of business reporters and editors from The Standard to the Post.”
Later, Mitchell noted, “Jackson’s resignation came just as he was due to return from vacation and just as his selected second-in-command, former Standard staffer Jonathan Tam, was due to go on leave. Clifford’s e-mail said that Post staffers Karen Chan and Ewen Campbell ‘will supervise the operation of the business section until a new business editor is appointed.’ Both Chan and Campbell were at the paper prior to the arrival of both Clifford and Jackson and their ascendancy is regarded inside the paper as a setback for Jackson’s allies.”
Read more here.
Some companies cutting back on WSJ advertising
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Technology and automotive industry spending on advertising in the Wall Street Journal is expected to slow in 2007, according to a Bloomberg story that looks at newspaper ad trends.
The story stated, “At Dow Jones, technology ad spending will remain weak while automotive ads will slow next year, said Gordon Crovitz, an executive vice president and Wall Street Journal publisher.”
Later, the story noted, “Crovitz, speaking at the Credit Suisse media investment conference in New York, said computer makers International Business Machines Corp. and Dell Inc. cut back on advertising in the Wall Street Journal this year. Technology ads will continue to weaken in 2007, while financial advertising will strengthen.
“With the acquisition of the Factiva news database, 40 percent of Dow Jones’s revenue will come from digital properties, Chief Executive Officer Richard Zannino said at the UBS conference. He said that amount will exceed 50 percent in 2009.”
Read more here.
CNBC.com: A Bloomberg for everyday people
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Variety’s Michael Learmonth takes a look at the launch of CNBC.com and what it will mean for the cable channel’s journalists, as well as its strategy.
Learmonth wrote, “Until last summer its Web activities had been undertaken in partnership with MSN. That deal expired in July, and the net hired a staff of 55 to launch the new site, designed to take on Dow Jones’ Marketwatch, Yahoo! Finance, Bloomberg and Reuters.
“‘I look at it as a Bloomberg Box for everyday people,’ said CNBC business news senior veep Jonathan Wald.
“CNBC has a relatively small audience of wealthy viewers, many of whom keep it on in the office. But net execs believe there are many more viewers who don’t have TVs at work and could be reached through the desktop.
“Launch sponsors are a host of CNBC TV sponsors including Ameritrade, Fidelity Investments, Etrade and Scottrade.
“In a departure, CNBC on-air personalities and correspondents will be asked to write stories and file blog dispatches in addition to their video reports.”
Read more here.
Meanwhile, a Reuters story on the launch focused on the search function of the site. It stated, “Searching on any given topic will consolidate CNBC’s myriad stories, blogs, videos and other financial information on one page.
“‘Every aspect of the site is visibly tagged and searchable so our viewers can customize the business universe to their particular needs,’ Meredith Stark, vice president of cnbc.com said, during a demonstration of the site.
“Viewers who want the entire CNBC broadcast will now be able to subscribe at an introductory rate of $9.95 per month for CNBC Plus, which makes its U.S., Asia and European broadcasts and other video clips available for searching.”
Read more here.
Assessing the Black Friday coverage
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The coverage of today’s retail shopping story was all across the map — literally. In Arizona, the story was about shoppers eschewing the mall for the great outdoors, while in Maine, the story was shoppers heading to the mail to avoid the weather.
That’s what makes covering the frenzy of shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving so difficult, especially for national reporters. There is typically no consensus on what happened during the day.
However, that didn’t prevent the business media from offering their analysis about what happened in the malls and shopping centers and major retailing areas on Friday.
Here is a sample:
– Reuters said Friday could be one of the “best in years,” quoting the Federated CEO, who was outside of Macy’s in New York at 5:30 a.m.
– The AP’s Anne D’Innocenzio focused on the trend that some retailers are now opening their doors at midnight to lure shoppers into their locations even earlier.
– Bloomberg’s main story about retail shopping lead with the quote from the head of the National Retail Federation that crowds were “huge.” Remember, these are the people who last year sold biz journalists the story about Black Monday being the biggest day of the year for online retail sales. I’d like to see some hard data before I believe them again.
– Speaking of Black Monday, Marketwatch’s Ben Charny has a smart story about the online retailing hype. Charny wrote, “Most of the attention of analysts and investors has been focused on two days: the Friday after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, and the following Monday, which some misguided e-marketers have dubbed Cyber Monday. Yet neither of those days ranked among the top five online shopping days of 2005, according to several research firms, including Internet traffic tracker comScore Networks and eBay Inc.’s PayPal service, the largest processor of online payments.”
– The Wall Street Journal also went with the stronger-than-expected crowd showings as its focus, but its reporting also noted that those same shoppers may not return when the sales and discounts stop.
My favorite story of the day was one from the Atlanta Constitution, where reporter Keri Smith found a Limited store manager who started her Christmas shopping at midnight because she had to be at work at her store at 10 a.m. Store managers got to shop too. What a nice change of pace from the rest of the stories, which quoted regular shoppers.
WSJ to unveil slimmer version next month
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The Wall Street Journal plans to unveil its revamped, slimmer design at a Dec. 4 event, according to a Bloomberg story. The changes will allow it to offer more color and photography.
The Bloomberg story stated, “The redesigned newspaper will be shown to the public at a Dec. 4 event at the Morgan Library. The new broadsheet, which debuts on newsstands Jan. 2, will eliminate roughly one column in width while adding visual elements such as color and photographs, said Robert Christie, a Journal spokesman.
“Dow Jones is seeking ways to reduce publishing costs while increasing revenue from advertising sales at both its print and online editions. As part of the redesign, the Journal began running a single advertisement on its front page in September. The New York Times is among other newspapers reducing its width to save on newsprint costs.
“Dow Jones had said that reducing the size of the Journal and eliminating some stock quotes and market data would save the company $18 million a year.”
Read more here.
Russian court overturns acquittal in murder of Forbes journalist
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A new trial will be held in the murder of Paul Klebnikov, the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, after the country’s Supreme Court overturned an earlier acquittal verdict, a wire service is reporting.
The court, acting on an appeal by prosecutors, ordered a new trial with a new judge, a court spokesman told Agence France-Presse.
The wire story stated, “Two men went on trial on Jan 10 on charges of carrying out the killing on behalf of a Chechen separatist, Khozh-Ahkmed Nukhayev, who was the subject of a critical book written by Klebnikov. But they and another man on trial on related charges were acquitted by a jury on May 5.
“However, close associates of Klebnikov and a section of the Moscow press disputed the official line that the journalist had been murdered on the orders of Nukhayev. They said Klebnikov had been investigating presumed contacts between Russian political officials and Chechen separatists.
“The three suspects had denied the charges in their earlier trial.”
Read more here. A Bloomberg story included this statement: “Today’s decision is a hopeful sign for justice and the rule of law in Russia,” the Klebnikov family said. “It confirms that blatant procedural irregularities took place in the lower courts, and that these cannot be ignored.”
Bloomberg columnist has kind words for Cramer
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Bloomberg News columnist Susan Antilla writes admiringly about “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer because he admits the mistakes he’s made on his show in his new book.
“Don’t get me wrong. This book includes a lot of tedious stuff, and I haven’t read a personal-finance book that didn’t put me to sleep since Andy Tobias was in his heyday. ‘Mad Money’ also oversells itself in its subtitle, ‘Watch TV, Get Rich.’ Who’s kidding whom here?
“Then there’s Cramer’s incessant self-promotion to cut through, not to mention the distraction — for those watching the TV show — of his toady fans. (‘I love you,’ cooed Janice from Minnesota during a recent call-in. ‘I guess I feel the same way — without a Human Resource problem,’ Cramer replied with an impish smile.)
“Yet there’s actually something useful going on in Cramer’s book and show. Here’s a former Wall Street guy who knows all the tricks and is sharing them with the public. It doesn’t hurt that he’s funny, which allows his students (a.k.a. cult followers) to swallow the Kool-Aid without getting indigestion.”
Read more here.