Several thoughts here, Wick:
- First, good on the News for actually putting this story in the paper. (It’s almost impossible to find on the web site, but that’s because of the site’s horrible search engine. Remember: always use Google when searching for specific DMN stories.)
- Also, let’s be clear what this is: It’s Decherd taking more guaranteed salary. He gives up potential earnings, but there’s no way he would have made that money given the forecast for the market in ’09. He decided that the standard “big-risk, big-reward” compensation package that most CEOs have is fine unless the risk becomes too great.
- Decherd’s not the only family member stacking his cash coffers. His sister, Dealey Decherd Herndon, has cashed 275,000 shares of Belo Corp. stock (the TV stations, not the newspapers) in the past 21 months or so, according to SEC filings. (I only play a smart person on TV, so if I’m reading this all wrong, lemme know.) In 2004 she owned over a million shares of common stock, now down to about a half a million. Her last sell of stock was in September, 150,000 shares when the stock was still over $7. Good on her, considering it’s now hovering around and under 2 bucks a share. Again, nothing wrong with this, except that it continues to spook folks in the newsroom who follow such transactions, as she’s a director of both Belo and A.H. Belo. (To be fair, though, she’s been cashing in her stock chips pretty regularly for years.)
- Because I can tell you how Herndon’s BLC sale and Decherd’s AHC pay raise was viewed internally, Wick. It’s best summed up by this quote from an email (one of many from DMN staffers) I received late last night:
The news of his payment is making the rounds here, leaving people to wonder if he’s too spooked by the markets to ride much of his earning potential on it. And if that is the case, what does that say for the company in 2009?
