The Troll is angry. He has read with much interest the posts on this blog and believes something needs to be done now to send the Dumb Cowards into exile. They are complete buffoons of the highest order. It’s time to outsource management.
Historically, change in corporate America has generally been fueled by outrage at the grass roots level. Whether it is the exploitation of labor that formed the union movement or angry consumers pushing back against monopolistic practices, free capitalist societies evolve from the bottom-up, not from the top-down as many corporate theorists would like us to believe.
The traditional corporate oversight system as it relates to executive pay is broken. We see it everyday, and it is even more evident in today’s economic climate. The Troll’s not sure how it got to this point; greed is certainly one factor, perhaps shareholder apathy another. Nevertheless, the situation has reached a tipping point and it is time for Sprint stakeholders to act.
There is one action that can be taken immediately and the Troll credits the poster who revealed the details on the release of Kathy Walker. In his/her post, Steve Elfman stated on a conference call that KW came to him and announced it was time for her to go. However, the official announcement is that KW was terminated without cause. What’s the big deal you may ask?
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE OF 4 MILLION DOLLARS. THIS MAKES THE TROLL VERY ANGRY!
On Sprint’s very own public website, the proxy statement reveals that in 2007 if KW had left voluntarily, as Elfman suggests, she would be entitled to “only” $330k of her STI. If she were terminated without cause she would have been “owed” $3,072,838, a difference of approx 2.7 million. Furthermore, she would have received 18 months of her base pay at $780k per year and additional stock options and health benefits. Oh yeah, she also will get outplacement help! As the Troll has mentioned before, KW was a HR exec and she knows how the system works. It is the Troll’s belief that KW left voluntarily. Right now, she’s Dumb Coward #2 not far behind Forsee.
Action needs to be taken on this matter immediately. The initial course of action will be to contact Board Member James Hance at boardinquiries@sprint.com . Mr. Hance is chairman of corporate governance at S. The Troll encourages all of you who are concerned about this issue to contact Mr. Hance and demand action. Keep in mind, the emails are not anonymous, so if you are an employee or not comfortable using your name, you may want to use an anonymous address. In the likely event that nothing happens, the Troll will approach the SEC and seek additional legal advice on shareholder remedies.
Folks, we have a chance to make history. Although out-of-control exec compensation is not unique to Sprint, this company is in the distinctive position of having the worst executive pay vs. performance of any Fortune 500 company. These dumb cowards make Blagojavich look like Mother Teresa. They are taking desperate measures to avoid bankruptcy for fear of losing their golden parachutes. Employees and shareholders are angry.
In future posts, the Troll will detail plans to form a blogsite where we can have a more thorough exchange of ideas amongst ourselves and other professionals in the legal and corporate governance fields. In addition, in the coming weeks we will draft a constitution, nominate a proxy BOD, and discuss an action plan to move our ideas forward in a way that is consistent with the capitalistic ideals of this country. Now is the time for us to unite, push the slime to the curb and usher in a new era of responsible well-meaning leaders, not just at S, but in corporate board rooms around the world. the Troll