[lbo-talk] Our seigneurial CEOs

[Carl Remick]

[What caught my eye about the story below is the reference to TWX CEO 
Richard D. Parsons' "crest."  Since Parsons, one of the few African-American 
Fortune 500 CEOs, is descended from slaves, one would assume his surname 
came from the orginal slave owner.  In any event, the crest mentioned is 
shown here:  
<http://www.italianwinemerchant.com/IWM_Weekly_e-letter/IWM_06_13_05_Il_Palazzone.htm>]

May 10, 2006

Executives Take Company Planes as if Their Own

By GERALDINE FABRIKANT

Richard D. Parsons, chairman and chief executive of Time Warner, owns a 
small vineyard in Tuscany that produces a Brunello di Montalcino selling for 
$80 a bottle, adorned with a crest of the Parsons family.

Twice a year, he boards one of his company's four jets to visit his 20 acres 
in Italy. When he does, Time Warner shareholders pick up the bill.

So do shareholders of General Electric when Robert C. Wright, a vice 
chairman, flies to his vacation home in Palm Beach, Fla., and Bank of 
America shareholders when Charles K. Gifford, the chairman emeritus, flies 
among his homes in Boston; Nantucket, Mass.; and Key Largo, Fla.

Chief executives' salaries have risen sharply. On top of that, new 
government data show, shareholders are paying more for executives' personal 
travel on corporate jets, long criticized as a symbol of excess. ...

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/business/10jets.html>

Carl