News

We’re writing these articles not for boardroom insiders, but for our broader audience—people who are curious about boards and want to learn the basics, without all the “inside baseball” jargon. If you have questions or ideas for topics you’d like covered, please write us.

Money for Nothing Video: Sources and Comments, Credits

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

26% wealth: The Wealth of Older Americans and the Sub-prime Debacle, Barry Bosworth and Rosanna Smart, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and Brookings Institution

Most CEOs chair board: Spencer Stuart Board Index 2009, p. 20.

Board selection: Ownership and Control, Margaret Blair, p. 79.

Almost impossible: Ownership and Control, Margaret Blair, p. 79.

Ignore votes: "Commentary: How Shareholder Votes Are Legally Rigged," Louise Lavelle, BusinessWeek, May 20, 2002.

Set pay packages: The Complete Guide to Executive Compensation, Bruce Eilig, p. 579

CEO Salary: Politifact.com

10% of all net profits: Harvard Professor Lucian Bebchuk and Cornell Prof. Yaniv Grinstein. 2005. The Growth of Executive Pay, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 21(2): 283-303.

Female directors: Spencer Stuart Board Index 2009, p. 9

85%: Spencer Stuart Board Index 2009, p. 9

2.5 days a month: National Association of Corporate Directors, 2009 Annual Survey.

$212,750: Spencer Stuart Board Index 2009, p. 33. While this is the average for all S&P 500 directors, in our book we advocate the creation of a new kind of intensively trained professional director who would work full time between two or three companies, and who would earn more than this amount.

Shareholder wealth losses: Losses are calculated from the market capitalization high prior to recent drop to the final level at sale, government takeover or bailout, bankruptcy, or CEO resignation.

$7 trillion: The Stock Slump of 2008: Wrecking Ball to Wealth," Washington Post, January 11, 2009.



CREDITS

Direction, cinematography and editing: Jay Gillespie - forjaygillespie@gmail.comWriting: John Gillespie and David Zweig; Lighting tech: Ted King; Chairman: John Gillespie; Slot machines: Bob Levy www.antiqueslotmachines.comCigar: Montecristo #1. One cigar (but no money) was destroyed in the making of this video.