Category: Executive Compensation

Cooley Alert: SEC Adopts Final Pay-Ratio Rule

by Cydney Posner See our Cooley Alert on the SEC’s final rule on pay-ratio disclosure.  It’s called SEC Adopts Final Pay-Ratio Rule.

Will more regulation be imposed on stock buybacks?

by Cydney Posner Lots of companies have been buying back their stock in recent years, either on their own initiative because, for example, management thinks the shares are undervalued, or sometimes at the insistence of  hedge fund activists bent on increasing the market price of the shares.   Now, as discussed […]

In adopting pay-ratio rules, is the SEC just a mime pushing on the sides of an imaginary box?

by Cydney Posner At an open meeting this morning, SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher contended that, in its  efforts to adopt pay-ratio rules that conform to the Dodd-Frank mandate, the SEC was just putting itself in a box – viewing the Dodd-Frank mandate as so prescriptive that the SEC could only […]

Does disclosure of a high CEO-employee pay ratio affect consumer behavior?

by Cydney Posner The answer is yes, according to a recent study from the Harvard Business School,  “Paying Up for Fair Pay: Consumers Prefer Firms with Lower CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios.  Just in time to be part of the mood music for the SEC’s expected adoption of final pay-ratio rules on […]

SEC sets meeting to vote on final pay-ratio rules

by Cydney Posner As widely rumored, the SEC will consider  final adoption of  the Dodd-Frank pay-ratio rules on August 5.

SEC to adopt pay-ratio rules without broad exclusions, reports WSJ

by Cydney Posner The SEC may adopt final pay-ratio rules, mandated by Dodd-Frank, possibly as early as next week.  More significantly, according to the WSJ, the final rules will be adopted “without broad exclusions sought by companies.” The pay-ratio proposal requires most public companies to disclose the relationship of CEO pay […]

Cooley Alert: SEC Proposes Long-Awaited Compensation Clawback Rule

by Cydney Posner See our Cooley Alert on the SEC’s new rule proposal regarding recovery of erroneously awarded compensation, the so-called clawback rule.  It’s called SEC Proposes Long-Awaited Compensation Clawback Rule.

Some notes from the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee meeting

by Cydney Posner Today, at a meeting of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee, the committee heard various updates regarding proxy season, shareholder rights  and related matters. Pat McGurn of ISS discussed the past proxy season, which he viewed as “one of the strangest” ever.  Why strange? Because of the impact […]

SEC proposes clawback rules

by Cydney Posner At an open meeting this morning, the SEC voted, three to two, to propose rules implementing Section 954 of Dodd-Frank, the clawback provision. Both Commissioners Gallagher and Piwowar voted against the proposal. As you may recall, Section 954 required the SEC to direct the national securities exchanges […]

Delaware Chancery Court applies entire fairness standard of review to director compensation

by Cydney Posner What is the judicial standard of review applicable to an award of compensation by directors to directors under an equity incentive compensation plan that has been approved by the shareholders?  That was the question before the Delaware Chancery Court in Calma v. Templeton. The answer is, as always: […]