Dow Jones Top Brass Close to the Money
One rule of business is that it’s always better to be closer to the money. This rings particularly true in journalism, where most scribes toil away for peanuts. The NY Post dug through a recent 8-K filing by Dow Jones and learned that at least some of its employees are doin’ okay. Former Dow Jones CEO Peter Kann will pull down $4.7 million in comp over the next two years while his wife, Karen Elliott House, who resigned recently as publisher of the The Journal, will get roughly $1.7 million. If you’re really interested, The Post has plenty of other salacious details on the comp packages.
Dow Duo Take All They Kann [NY Post]
Voodoo Accounting Reaches The Sopranos
For all the Wall Street attention on the pros and cons of EBITDA, one investor still believes in it. Paulie Walnuts, when trying to coerce a sanitation company to sell itself to Tony Soprano and not another mob family, says: “Do you even know what your EBITDA is?” [he pronounced it EBB-bitda] “It gives a true picture of a company’s profitability.”—DF
The Sopranos [HBO.com]
Book Review: How Wall Street Is Screwing You Over
The Times whips off a positively glowing review of former Business Week reporter Fary Weiss’ latest book, Wall Street Versus America: The Rampant Greed and Dishonesty That Imperil Your Investments. In case the title was too subtle, here how Times reviewer Janet Maslin sums it all up:
Targets on [Weiss’] dartboard include ineffectual regulators, paid market researchers, de facto bribes involving municipal bonds, the hidden costs of mutual funds and the mystique of hedge fund managers. Another target: you, Buster, regardless of whether you care about investment practices and “even if you keep your money in a passbook savings account or a tin box in the backyard.” Mr. Weiss bemoans “a generation of Americans who sign papers they don’t read and buy investment products they don’t understand from brokers whose backgrounds they don’t bother to research.”
Oh, this is such terrible news! You mean Wall Street isn’t looking out for investors’ best interests?
Review: Wall Street Versus America [NY Times]
Daltrey Sells Out, Signs On For Hedge Fund Gig
It’s always a little depressing to hear of aging rock stars stooping to perform at business functions. There’s a certain loss of dignity implicit in the whole arrangement. So we were saddened to see this photo of Roger Daltrey and Albourne “Mayor” Sam Lewis grinning in anticipation of the Who lead singer’s upcoming gig at Hedgestock in June. If you’re going to sell out, we guess, you might as well do it with hedge fund consultants Albourne which is run by some pretty cool cats. Better than, say, playing a Goldman gig.
