Corporate governance as universal sham

Nomiprins at aol.com Nomiprins at aol.com
Fri Aug 16 14:09:02 PDT 2002


In a message dated 8/16/2002 1:20:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time, carlremick at hotmail.com writes:


> execs the world over are pretty fungible, and despite their supposed
> preference for a "level playing field" what they all want is a comfy mud
> wallow.
>
I agree. Also, I didn't read the rest of the WSJ article, but I'm not quite sure what their point is - US corporate governance is better?!?. If anything it's the opposite; many large European utilities that used to be national are still partially owned by the government, try getting the US to buy 55% of WorldCom's businesses and monitor them. France Tel (55% owned by the French govt) recently ousted MobilCom's founder and boss Gerhard Schmid. Jean-Marie Messier got chucked from Vivendi in July amidst allegations of fraud. The media goliath Bertelsmann booted Middlehoff a couple weeks ago. And Ron Sommer stepped down as Deutsche Tel's CEO due to German government (which holds a 45% stake) pressure. I'd compare these guys to Gary Winnick of Global Crossing, Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom and Philip Anschutz of Qwest anyday. They stink equally.

Nomi

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