The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "CEO salaries" ...
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Playing with Fire
“Playing with Fire” focuses on a public board well out of the public eye, but one that could cost New Orleans taxpayers millions of dollars every year. After a month of digging through thousands of pages of records at the New Orleans Firefighters Pension Fund, WVUE-TV and Lee Zurik revealed questionable salaries, spending, and management. Among the notable discoveries: a $70,000 raise and $90,000 lump sum payout for the board Secretary-Treasurer/CEO; tens of thousands of dollars in questionable credit card charges by the board; and tens of millions of dollars in questionable investments. This last element is perhaps the most egregious for the citizens of New Orleans who are left to foot the bill for any pension fund shortfalls. This multi part series launched an investigation by the city’s inspector general, forced the board to change polices and led to charges filed by the state ethics board against two of the principals in our series.
Tags: New Orleans; taxes; taxpayers; credit cards
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High Flying Perks
As automakers took more financial hits in 2006 that led to layoffs and cost-cutting, company executives asserted that they too would cut down on their personal budgets. But WXYZ-TV found out that the executives did nothing to reduce their use of corporate jets and fuel in trips costing in the tens of thousands of dollars. The eight-month investigation uncovered situations like that of Ford CEO BIll Ford, Jr. He accepted a yearly salary of only a dollar, and used company planes for personal trips to the tune of $297,201 in a single year. Ford president Mark Fields is tasked with cutting costs in the company, yet used the planes on many weekends to take trips from Detroit to his mansion in Florida at a cost of between $50,000 and $70,000 each weekend.
Tags: Money; corporate pork; corporate executives; misuse of company planes; corporate cost-cutting; automotive industry; Ford Motor Company
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Pay for No Performance
The Wall Street Journal investigates the trend of "risk-free" compensation for chief executive officers. "CEOs were supposed to get top dollar only when they got top results," the report begins. "Now, many are getting top dollar no matter what the results." The article uses information from a survey conducted by William Mercer, Inc. for the WSJ, and finds salaries, bonuses, and especially stock options, are sending CEO compensation skyward, while at the same so-called "risk-free packages" are eroding the "linkage between pay and performance."
Tags: wall street; CEO; chief executive; bonus; performance bonus; stock options; grant; megagrant; compensation; retention; stock market
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United Way Growth Comes With Price Tag
A Charlotte Observer analysis of the Charlotte-area United Way raises questions about the agency's efficiency claims, found it had a higher overhead rate than most large charities and most large United Ways, and its leader was one of the five highest-paid United Way CEOs in the nation. Charlotte's United Way ranks 24th in size. The group also made questionable accounting changes to improve the appearance of its overhead rate."
Tags: United Way; nonprofits; charities; Charlotte; North Carolina; accounting; overhead rate; CEO salaries
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Does Crime Pay?
"For years, the hard-charging executive had run Avant! more like a sole proprietorship than a publicly traded company. His hand-picked board, which included a retired Park Ranger who is friends with his sister and a host of insiders with business deals with Avant!, okayed huge pay packages for Hsu and CEO-like salaries for a son with limited business experience and a former stewardess who was his top lieutenant. The story spelled out suspicious Avant! investments into entities win which Hsu holds a personal stake, the legal stalling tactics employed by Avant! to buy time of for the company, and a PR campaign to raise its image that included the creation of a foundation that has spent twice as much on advertising its good works as it has on actual charity." - excerpt from IRE contest entry form
Tags: business; computers; software; Silicon Valley; Avant!
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Executive Pay
A Business Week special report delves into "the world of executive compensation," in which - "despite weakening returns" - CEOs earn increasingly enormous salaries. The story finds that "in 2000 .... U.S. company chieftanks bagged on average a princely $13.1 million." A pay-performance analysis shows the executives who gave the shareholders the most and the least for their pay, as well as the CEO's who companies did the best and the worst relative to their pay. The report includes a list of the CEO's who get the biggest rewards in different business sectors.
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The 8th Annual StarTribune 100: Minnesota's Largest Publicly Held Companies
The Minneapolis StarTribune examines the financial health of the top 100 publicly held companies in the state. It listed companies according to their revenues. The 4-part series finds that as many companies' share prices went up as went down. It also finds that sales and market values at the biggest companies are at record levels even though profits are falling. The series also lists the highest paid CEO's in the state and the highest paid female executives.
Tags: Business; StarTribune 100; salary; stock market; Federal Reserve; relocations; interest rates; share value
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No title (id: 13378)
Z Magazine examines huge differences between the salary of CEO's and that of workers. The article offers statistics and figures to further inform the reader of the problems that arise when CEO's downsize employees for their personal financial gain. ( June 1996)
Tags: Sklar Upsized CEO's Money Wealth Wall street Inflation 4 pgs.
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No title (id: 13252)
This article discusses the downsizing of corporations and its effects on both the employees as well as the top executives. Through laying off workers in large numbers, CEO's are able to increase their own salaries. This process is widespread among many large corporations although some have begun programs to eliminate this problem.
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No title (id: 12360)
The Buffalo News investigates the salary and bonus increase of CEOs during 1994. Although the wages, salary and benefits of the typical U.S. employee increased by 2.9 percent, the median pay of local chief executives soared by 11.8 percent. (June 4, 1995)
Tags: Robinson CAR Executives Economy CEO Profits Salary 3 pgs.