Replies to post #165286 on InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[ellismd]

There have been several shareholder intitiatives that have passed but where not implemented. Second, the cusp of the discussion at least for this investor is about maxmizing the return for shareholders. It should not be about maxmizing great returns for management and shareholders get the crums, no matter how good the crumbs are compared to other investments. I work my profession and receive due compensation. I utilize my compensation to further my economic returns. For me, as it should be for IDCC's BOD and Management there should be some real consequences associated with their economic gain beyond their salary, and there is a distinction between salary and compensation as it relates to the free flow of RSU and options they receive. My job is Incalculable more important then what these group of guys do on a world wide scale but I don't receive half of what these guys award themselves, but that is life and I live in a world where teachers and firemen, and police are underpaid while the same people they protect and cultivate get rich for far less a contribution to society. So it is with a conscious I feel there needs to be a change and if someone with enough talent comes along to execute that change I am all for it and will join that crusade, until then I will express MHO.

[plumear]

Danny Detail, I've said before, as you did in your post, that I'm not into trying to run a company that I was invested in and that if I didn't like the way a company was being run, I'd just move on. However, I do think that, with human nature as it is, if anyone had the unfettered ability to set their own compensation, they would set it as high as their concience would let them. I have no doubt that if the person setting his own compensation never heard any dissent or disagreement, his concience would would exert a lot less restraint than if he did hear opposition. Additionally, there are certainly people whose concience would not bother them until the opposition was completely overwhelming.

You said "The reality is I would not take the judgment of anyone on this board, myself included, over anyone in IDCC management concerning any aspect of running the business, including the incentive compensation program". While that is a pretty absolute statement, I'd have to feel that there would be SOME POINT that you would agree that a line had been crossed when it came to management compensation. Is there any level you would consider to be excessive?

I believe that many of those that have expressed disapproval of IDCC's BOD new grants of potentially higher levels of compensation, myself included, are not just concerned about IDCC but rather about an ever growing trend thoughout the corporate world of corporate boards granting themselves more and more and more. Where is the line? I'm not sure but there are plenty of people who think that, in many cases, it has already been passed. Personally, I think they have every right to question the direction of things and hear an answer.

Finally, if someone thinks that, because I or someone else does not approve of the compensation plan, it puts me or them in the same camp as Corp Buyer (or anyone else's camp for that matter), I think that's faulty thinking. I can agree with a poster on this board about one issue and just as easily disagree on another. There could be some on this board that I might rarely agree with but it doesn't mean that I will automatically disagree with everything they think. Likewise, just because I agree with someone most of the time doesn't mean I will never disagree.

[The Count]

Brad, you are right about many things

I do try to be balanced and open minded, however like most people I am most motivated to comment when I disagree, so let me make clear that I do respect your experience and contributions to this board. Some things you said recently that I think are correct are:

I've invested some of my assets in this company. As long as my estimated future returns exceed what I think I can make in alternative investments going forward without any involvement from me or any other investor I will stay invested. Otherwise I'm out and into something else.

and

So, what to do now? Whenever I've been faced with that question I've used the zero based budget approach, i.e. start with the definition, goals and objectives of my job and then decide what actions will cause me to best perform my job. As of Friday's close I had $105,700 of my personal assets invested in IDCC. My job is to make sure every day that the $105,700, along with my other financial assets, are invested in such a way in context with my cash needs that my long term personal financial goals are met or exceeded to the greatest extent possible. Every day I am completely free to do whatever I want with whatever the value of that $105,700 has become on that day. That's my job and presumably the job of everyone else on this board. At the end of the day, I can't expect anyone to help me with that job. The responsibility is solely mine.

and although we’ve never met, most accurate of all

the Count naked .. now that is scary sight to contemplate LOL.

The reason we disagree so much is because we start from two very different perspectives. You were in management, understand issues as they see them, and understand that they have far more information then we have, so they have a better grasp of what is required to make the company successful. This may surprise you, but I agree with that as well. Our great divergence comes in that you feel since they have this superior position it is ignorantly presumptious to question anything they do, including determining compensation. Therefore we will never agree because I do believe that shareholders do have the right to raise the issue.