From a greedy, ungrateful guy who won't sell
If you believe IDCC's management is worth all they are getting and more, you don’t even have to mail in your proxy. The game is rigged so that those who don’t vote automatically support management’s position. I too believe a person should be fairly paid for their work. I happen to believe that management is doing quite well for themselves, thank you very much. Until and unless we get 3G licenses with a respectable rate from the big players, I do not feel IDCC's management has done much to deserve bonuses over the last few years.
If you want to point at the stock price, let me put it this way. If George Steinbrenner decided to manage the Yankees himself, with a salary of $8,000,000, raised ticket prices $3.00 a head to cover it, then managed the team to 95 wins and a division championship, you folks would hail him as a great manager worth every cent, after all he did better than most. My position is that good management could’ve won more games and at a cheaper cost to the fans. If I got paid based on the number of wins the team had, not just where the finished, I would not be happy with 95 wins when Torre would get them over 100. True, the stock price has performed beautifully since January 2001, however that is in large part due to the market greatly undervaluing IDCC. Those who bought in single digits were smart, took risk and were rewarded for it. If I could “buy” the Yankees at 80 wins, 95 is good, but my profit would be due to my ability to see value and willingness to invest my capital, not Steinbrenner’s brilliance. I’ll bet some of you even thought Barry Switzer was a great pro football coach or that Trent Dilfer was a great quarterback – they both won a Super Bowl. I don’t think either one of them was much more than a journeyman.
Yes, I’m a greedy SOB. If I was in management’s position I would probably do the same thing – it’s easy to be convinced of a plan that works to your benefit. If I could set my salary, it would be quite a bit higher. However, others make me justify my earnings by what I produce. That is not measured from zero, but from what I can accomplish beyond what the average Joe could do. If I can’t do any better, I get average Joe pay. If I can do better, I get more. It is limited by common sense. For management to be in a position to get more than all the other workers combined is outrageous to me UNLESS they came up with something so innovative and unique that their brilliance caused the great flow of revenues and income to pour in. I don’t see it here. If we cut off the option spigot, are any of you afraid our management would leave? Would you be worried about the companies ability to replace anyone if they did go? I’d say no to both. I resent management reaching into my pocket year after year for more options. Take cash salaries, period, or out of the money options in lieu of some salary if you want to participate in the hoped for growth.
My response to some common remarks from those who support managements compensation levels.
*If you think we are hurting the company by not giving them the same assets to hire talent, I’d point to the million plus shares still available, remind you that we have finished our ramping up and that the economy is quite different from a few years ago. Out here is Sillycon Valley quite a few qualified, experienced engineers are working in other fields because supply is exceeding demand. Job hopping is now done due to management decisions, not the employees.
*To those that say if your not happy, sell, I’d say you need to take a class in logic. Just because I think my return is being significantly reduced by managements greed does not mean that it is a bad investment, just not as good as it should be. So I will raise my voice to protest, especially when there is an opportunity (however slight) to take action to change things.
*If I am happy with the share price, I don’t care how much management takes. All I can say is how many other people do you give blank checks to for doing their job to your satisfaction?
*For those who say why do I focus on IDCC, well, that’s the only stock I hold, so that’s what I care about.
Unless the institutions decide to vote no (fat chance) there will be a noticeable but ineffective no vote and management will be able to reduce the value of our IDCC holdings by another 10%, which will go disproportionately to management. As an added bonus to us, depending on when the options are granted, may also decrease our earnings per share under the new rules for expensing options. I will vote against shifting wealth from myself and other shareholders to our management and I won’t feel at all selfish about it. I truly cannot understand how intelligent, reasonable people can look at IDCC and think that management is in any way under compensated.
AI
