Archive for the &;Shareholder Revolt&; Category

Ringmaster Richard Parsons Tames Time WarnerCrowd

May 22, 2007

On May 17  I attended the Time Warner annual meeting in Burbank.   CEO Richard Parsons gave a presentation, told us &;we toil on your behalf&; and said after years of “going sideways, we finally got some movement in the stock.”  He pointed to the board of directors, &;I work for them, they work for you.&;

He went over numbers and showed graphics like InStyle with Haile Berry, Bugs Bunny and CNN with Anderson Cooper, adding &;I&;d like to salute publicly our journalists who put themselves in harm&;s way.&; Befitting the Warner Brothers location, he showed a pair of film clips.  The latest Harry Potter looked vivid and great, while the new Hairspray left me wondering if John Travolta (in drag as the mom) has a speech impediment.  Parsons noted the studio won 10 Oscars in 2007, but I don&;t see Travolta finally getting his for this.  Nonetheless, Parsons urged the audience to see the films “early and often.&; “Can old media exist in a digital world?&; is the challenge for content creators, according to Parsons, and is something a writer like myself  struggles with every day.  &;We&;re in the content creation business; ink on paper, television, video.  Our challenge is to move our company into digital, whether you own it, rent it, watch it on an iPOD.” Parsons is unflappable, as befits a man who says he’s a big fan of Happy Feet.  He also has a good sense of humor, staying calm while noted corporate gadfly John Chevvedden talked about Parson&;s high ($22 million) compensation.  When another stockholder admonished Parsons for selling Google years ago, he said, &;We could have done better, but no one has ever gone broke taking a profit.&; What&;s Time Warner all about?  Parsons put it this way: 1. Make money for our shareholders. 2. Do some good in the world. 3. Have some fun doing it.  From a media training point of view, couldn’t have said it better myself.

Posted in CNN, corporate-gadflies, Investor Relations, Media Training, Public Relations, Publishing, Shareholder Revolt, Time-Warner | Leave a Comment &;

Evelyn Y. Davis and Proxy SeasonFollies

April 26, 2007

If it&;s spring, the proxy-season circus is in town.  At this time of year, public relations and IR (Investor Relations) pros prepare for their corporation&;s annual shareholder meetings.  Shockingly enough, these meetings are often stage-managed to cheerlead for the CEO and avoid controversy.  But even when IR folks try to keep things under control, often the meetings turn into bizarre theatre.  At a Ford shareholder meeting in Irvine, California, I watched noted shareholder &;gadfly&; Evelyn Y. Davis fawn over then-CEO Bill Ford with an unsettling mix of maternal concern and lust.  Later, he personally delivered her new Jaguar.

Whether it&;s Citibank or among the restive shareholders of the New York Times, Evelyn is on the case.  I&;ve written about her, and she always has a lot to say: When Safeway&;s general counsel implored &;Miss Davis&; to be quiet, &;It&;s Mrs. Davis,&; she insisted.  I&;ve had three husbands.&; At Morgan Stanley, Davis threatened, &;When I&;m gone, my ghost will appear at the meeting.&;  Replied Chairman Philip Purcell, &;We look forward to your ghost.&; Purcell and Ford show the right way for CEOs to respond to gadflys like Evelyn; listen patiently, act when their suggestions are appropriate and reasonable, keep your sense of humor.  It&;s easy to snicker at the gadflies.   But often dissident stockholders have a point.  Unchallenged, bad corporate leadership can damage even the strongest company&;like this software architect whose biggest innovation appears to be creating the 35-day month and 100-day quarter for booking revenue and making numbers.

Posted in Evelyn Y. Davis, evelyn-davis, Ford, Investor Relations, Journalism, morgan-stanley, Public Relations, Shareholder Revolt | 3 Comments &;