Foxman is listed as working 27 hours as ADL's National Director. In addition, Foxman also serves as a trustee of the Anti-Defamation League Foundation, a job which he devotes 13 hours per week for a salary of more than $163,000.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which Hier co-founded in 1977, takes only 24 hours of his time to run. For his time, he received $241,269. The balance of his $691,000 in salary and benefits comes from the Museum of Tolerance. Moreover, Hier's wife Marlene has a six-figure job and his sons work at the organization as well. More than $1 million worth of business has been done between the organizations and either companies owned by the board of directors or relatives or board members.

Continue reading Heads of charities deserve same scrutiny as corporate CEOs

Heads of charities deserve same scrutiny as corporate CEOs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Investors are taking their money out of hedge funds more now that at any time over the past 10 years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Firms are bracing for the end of June when the next big wave will hit.
• First it was a demand for management changes, and now shareholders, including one time director Eli Broad and fund managers Shelby Davis of Davis Selected Advisors and Bill Miller of Legg Mason Inc (NYSE: LM), are again upset with American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) and want changes in the boardroom as well, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) will close Old Lane Partners, a hedge fund co-founded by CEO Vikram Pandit.

• Spotlight Capital is increasing pressure on Chico's FAS Inc (NYSE: CHS) and said it has been in touch with 25 major shareholders in order to oust CEO Scott Edmonds and unseat board member John Burden, who are accused of having a conflict of interest, the New York Post reported.

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) denied reports certain of its new dual-core chip, code-named Kuma, have been canceled, according to CNet. A spokesman for the company said that the launch of Kuma, scheduled for the second half of 2008, remains on track.

Newspaper wrap-up: Citigroup to shut Old Lane Partners hedge fund originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) -- volatility up; Global Equity Opportunities (GEO) fund leverage reduced on $3 billion infusion. GS is recently trading up $4.40 to $184.97. GS says, "given the market dislocation, the performance of GEO has suffered significantly. Our response has been to reduce risk and leverage." GS, along with C.V. Starr, Perry Capital LLC and Eli Broad, are making a $3 billion equity investment in GEO. GS said on its conference call it has de-leveraged its GEO fund from six times leveraged to three and a half after the capital infusion. GS September option implied volatility of 51 is above its 26-week average of 30 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Amex Financial Select Sector SPDR (AMEX: XLF) -- September volatility at 37. XLF seeks to replicate the total return of the Financial Select sector of the S&P 500 Index. XLF is recently up $0.63 to $33.98. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG), JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) and GS are components of the XLF. XLF September at the money option implied volatility of 37 is above its 26-week average of 20 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options (VIX) down 1.50 to 26.80.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update: Goldman Sachs (GS) volatility decreases on equity investment originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Have billionaires Eli Broad, Ron Burkle and Sam Zell run out of ways to spend their money? Maybe this explains their bidding war for Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB).

Last night, Broad and Burkle said they would pay $34 per share for the Chicago-based media company, $1 more per share than an offer Tribune was on the verge of accepting from Zell. Both deals would be financed through employee stock ownership programs, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Broad and Burkle will invest $500 million in Tribune, more than the $300 million Zell reportedly offered, the paper said.

Money, though, isn't going to solve Tribune's problems.

Big city metros such as The Los Angeles Times are particularly vulnerable to competition from the Internet and smaller local papers. Tribune's largest paper also has had turmoil in its management ranks that reportedly has hurt morale in the newsroom. The other big Tribune papers like Newsday, The Baltimore Sun and the Chicago Tribune have similar problems.

Zell said he plans to keep Tribune intact. I don't think Burkle and Broad have made a similar pledge. Regardless, the Chicago Cubs are probably going to get a new owner at some point in the not-too-distant future.

These wannabe press lords may regret having their wish come true.

A bidding war for Tribune? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Billionaire Sam Zell seemed to like the idea of owning part of the Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB), for a few minutes at least. Other billionaires, like Eli Broad and Ron Burkle, were interested in buying only some of its newspapers. Private equity interests have approached the company about its TV stations.

Now the company is facing the March 31 deadline it set for bids and it appears that no one wants to pony up, at least not at a price much north of where the company currently trades.

That is very bad news for TRB shareholders. Because Wall Street has been hoping for a big bid, Tribune shares are only a few percentage points below where they traded a year ago. Similar companies like The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT), McClatchy Company Holding (NYSE:MNI), and Journal Register Co. (NYSE:JRC) are off much more. McClatchy shares declined 35% over the period and stock in Journal Register is down 45%.

All of this means that when the March 31 deadline passes, Tribune shares could begin to correct and it would not be a shock if that correction takes that stock down 20% -- at least if investors look at the performance of similar companies.

The Tribune Company needs to find another billionaire.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

As latest suitor prepares to walk, Tribune shares could drop originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB) and the Chandler family are playing a high-stakes game of chicken as they ponder the next chapter in the never-ending soap opera around the media company.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) today reports that the Chicago-based company is preparing for a possible proxy fight from the former owners of the Los Angeles Times. I repeat "possible" because mounting proxy fights is a cumbersome and costly process that shareholders usually try to avoid though they often threaten to mount them.

Tribune, according to the paper, has "cooled" on the Chandlers' bid for the company. Why isn't clear. Now the family may try to win two other board seats in addition to the three it already has to gain more leverage with the company in negotiations.

" The Chandlers hope to avoid such a battle, a person familiar with the family's thinking said," the Journal says. How has this person gained such a familiarity? Has this person looked at brain scans of all of the Chandlers or polled them? This phrase, which is often used in m&a stories, is stupid.

I guess the same person told The Journal that the Chandlers don't like the bid by Los Angeles billionaires Ron Burkle and Eli Broad because it would require Tribune to borow heavily to pay a big dividend to shareholders.

Sometimes all of this negotiation through the media gets confusing but it's been going on for months now and isn't going to stop anytime soon.

Tribune, Chandlers are playing chicken originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As I wrote yesterday on BloggingStocks, the rumor was that private equity firms had little interest in Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB).

The good news is that there are a lot of billionaires in the US -- some of whom would like Tribune, or at least a piece of it. In fact, there are now at least two offers for the company.

First, Tribune's biggest shareholder, the Chandler family, whose ancestors created the Los Angeles Times, is offering about $31.70 per share. It's a funky deal, which includes $19.30 in cash and a planned spin-off of the broadcasting assets.

With a 20% equity stake, Chandler certainly has leverage.

The other offer comes from two California billionaires, Eli Broad and Ron Burkle. Their offer is also funky. They are willing to invest $500 million in the company and borrow $10.5 billion to pay a big dividend to shareholders. It's basically a leveraged recapitalization transaction.

In some ways, this represents further validation of the deep troubles in the newspaper business. On the news of the offers, Tribune's stock is up $0.55 to $30.89.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Tribune's billionaire bonanza originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.