August 9, 2012
Online Campaigns: Fire CEO & Prevent Parachute Payment
– Broc Romanek, CompensationStandards.com
Here’s news from this WSJ article:
The creators of a website devoted to getting mining executive Tye Burt fired declared “success” this week. The Kinross Gold Corp. CEO was relieved of his position on Wednesday. Where does a one-theme website like FireTyeBurt.com go after that? Not away, according to the site’s postings on Friday. After a victory lap, in which the website declared “great news, goodbye Tye,” the site hinted at a new direction: making sure Mr. Burt doesn’t get a pay-off. “We can only wish that the Board took a principled stand and did NOT pay off Tye Burt with a huge departure bonus,” it said.
In announcing Mr. Burt’s departure earlier this week, Kinross said it “needed a new leader to carry out a plan to improve the company’s investment returns and to optimize its projects.” That news didn’t come as a surprise for many. Gold miners’ stock prices have lagged behind the rise in gold prices, and Kinross has been under extra pressure since early this year, when it reported delays in development projects in Chile, Ecuador and Mauritania.
Firetyeburt.com put it a little less diplomatically, pointing to compensation packages and a share price that has been flat during a seven-year period in which the price of gold has risen by four times. “About the only person who has made money off of Kinross has been Tye Burt,” it said in recent weeks.
By Thursday the website’s banner had changed from “Tye Burt needs to be fired” to “Tye Burt needed to be fired.” Then came the new demand: “Take a stand, cut him loose with nothing.” The website didn’t respond to requests for comment. Mr. Burt, who was replaced by Kinross executive J. Paul Rollinson, couldn’t be reached for comment. Kinross didn’t return calls seeking comment.