Replies to post #101847 on InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[themaude]

Danny not to butt in and I have utmost respect for Loop, But....I have built a very successful business and spent many a night over thirty years worrying about my employees and families and their futures and fighting all sorts of adversity. I go along with Data and Ronnie and Corp Buyer among others on why not to vote for Harry C.

I would always make sure that the Guys and Gals on the ground got the rewards they earned before I rewarded myself. Investors needed to know what was going on to make informed decisions on what was happening with their investment. Sometimes rewards from strategies where delayed along time. I never felt I could step in and reward myself before my efforts for my company came to fruition. I waited for my rewards and got them when my insight and efforts paid off, not before. That was my choice as I was CEO and Chairman of the Board. Almost absoltute power. I often had to wait a very long time due to circumstances beyond my control. I believe that HC has rewarded himself over and above anything he has brought to IDCC long before IDCC, its shareholders and rank and file employees have been. It's still a crap shoot out there for everyone but Harry. I have alot of repect for HG and those making it happen for IDCC. They are well compensated before bonuses and should find the same rewards as the investors do when their work come to fruition but HC took his oversized rewards while things were'nt so great for IDCC and the investors. He's been more than repaid and should move on.

Bill

[rmarchma]

DannyD re running a business you said:

….”Ironically, I was also telling her about Marchama's posts to you before we left and you know her reaction was so close to yours it is scary. She asked "has this guy built a business from nothing, has he laid awake night after night worrying about the families of his employees who stuck with him through the bad times, has he had to take on the big guys who use their power to squash the little guys using every dirt trick they know?' I said I don't think so, I believe he has spent most of his life in academia.”

No I have never owned my own business, so I have never had to worry about employees. Yes, I have spent a lot of my life in academia. However I did work in public accounting for one of the world’s largest CPA firms, KPMG Peat Marwick, and earned my CPA certificate. Later I worked in private industry as Assistant Controller and then Controller for a closely-held conglomerate corporation. So I do have some business experience in the “real world” and not just in academia. Of course, I do realize that my business experience is not nearly as impressive as yours and others on this board though.

I think some of Campagna’s problem is that he did come out of an entrepreneur environment, as he did start-up and owns a small business. It appears to me that he wants to run a large public corporation in the same manner as his own small business, with an iron-fist and absolute power. However, you just can’t run a large public corporation in the same manner that you would run a small private company.

DannyD you also said:

…”Aside to Ronny, I have the utmost respect for teachers but you don't have a clue about business or what it means to be ethical when surrounded by competitors who are not.”

Nokia is certainly not an ethical company. It appears that other wireless companies might not be the most ethical either. However ethics is still personal, everyone has to make ethical decisions in life. You either do what is right or do what is wrong, and I certainly acknowledge that no one is perfectly ethical at all times in all circumstances. But getting back to my original comment on ethics, do you agree or disagree with my following comment:

It is not right to excessively compensate oneself, and then to excessively compensate others out of “loyalty”. This policy just reeks of cronyism, and is not ethical IMO. Mr. Campagna has a fiduciary responsibility to the owners of the corporation, to do what is in our best interests, and not what is in his own best interest or his "loyal" followers.

Finally you also said:

…“AND, you have some set suggesting that you are better equipped to separate fact from fiction than Loop.”

First I respect Loop and think he brings a lot of value to this forum. I hated to hear that he has to undergo more surgery. However in the particular post of his that I responded to, I believe his opinions were based on faulty and incorrect information. Since Loop’s opinions are held in high regard, I thought it necessary to correct what I thought were errors in his post.

I am accused of a lot of things, but I do try my best to be as factual as possible. I am quick to post replies to others when I think that their perceived “facts” are not correct, and I certainly don’t mind others correcting my posts if it contains an error of fact. Finally I didn’t accuse Loop of being “intellectually dishonest” about certain things as you did in a very recent post to him.

[fordiamonds]

Danny, not to be a butinsky, but I believe you left this one out:
Does he stay up at night worrying about his fiduciary responsibility to his shareholders?

"Ironically, I was also telling her about Marchama's posts to you before we left and you know her reaction was so close to yours it is scary. She asked "has this guy built a business from nothing, has he laid awake night after night worrying about the families of his employees who stuck with him through the bad times, has he had to take on the big guys who use their power to squash the little guys using every dirt trick they know?' I said I don't think so, I believe he has spent most of his life in academia."

Loop, as always best wishes. Keep on truckin.

PS. I imagine he does.