Sure, this is the season of giving, but shouldn't companies save some of the gifts for shareholders? Long holiday weekends are a great time for companies to disclose potentially controversy-provoking information. With a shortened trading day just before Christmas coupled with the SEC being closed until today, late last week was a great time to make disclosures that relatively few people are likely to read.
Come Jan. 1, companies will have to comply with new IRS rules governing deferred compensation, including how it relates to executive employment and separation agreements. This ought to be pretty ho-hum stuff, but some companies are including pay increases for executives with the required modifications.
The CEO at Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), for example, got a Christmas gift of $35,000 as the company boosted his annual salary from $850,000 to $885,000 while also giving him a rasher of new restricted shares. He also agreed to forego any bonus payments in 2009 that would have exceeded the bonus percentages already outlined in his contract.
Home furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) also changed its compensation agreements with its co-chairmen, as well as the amount of time they'll have to work for the company if they choose a "senior status" designation. Their contracts previously said they would have to work 50 hours in a three-month period but that was changed to 25% of the time they were working beforehand. I don't know how much time they're actually working, so I don't know for sure if this is more or fewer hours than they had to work before -- but I'd be willing to make a guess.
Other companies are also notifying shareholders of potentially controversial issues. Sneaker maker K-Swiss (Nasdaq: KSWS), for example, recently priced outstanding stock options for certain executives $2 lower than the price at which they were initially granted. Industrial construction firm MasTec (NYSE: MTZ) opted to pay its former CEO nearly $2.4 million after he resigned from the board of directors for personal reasons. That was the amount he would have gotten in the event of a change in control, but even though that didn't happen, the company just decided to give him the money anyway.
Not everyone threw in add-ons for executives. Luxury handbag maker Coach (NYSE: COH), for example, simply changed its employment agreement to conform to the new IRS guidelines. That was it. In my eyes, that represents a level of management integrity investors should take note of.
This serves as a good reminder that even when companies are required to disclose important information like executive compensation, you have to keep your eyes open. Otherwise, you could potentially miss an important announcement that could change your mind about whether you want to invest in a stock or not.
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