Comments on: Schering-Plough Lawyer Gets $500K Reward

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:27:19 +0000

They should bott the entire executive team. They’re simply a bunch of greedy bullies. Unfortunately, the Board is a bunch of puppets that bury their heads in the sand. SP is digging its reputation hole deeper and deeper with these ridiculous slary and bonus increases. Where are these clowns going to go? If they were let go like thousands of others from SP, they would know how hard it is to find a new job.

Shareholders - it’s time to oust the Board!!!!

By: SP 2

SP 2 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:00:17 +0000

So it’s Brent S., Tom K. and Tom S.! How many other top SP execs have received their outrageous raises, bonuses and special cash awards while thousands are laid off. This is an example of American capitalism at its worst. No wonder the drug companies are grouped along with oil and tobacco as the most hated groups of companies in the country! None of these people are indispensible. They just think they are!

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:11:35 +0000

This is no different from the Brent Saunders million dollar bonus for the year that he personally contributed to a $50 million loss on the HomeAgain venture.

Pay for performance … do as I say, not as I do.

The Board is once again asleep at the switch.

By: chris

chris — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:09:10 +0000

Obscene! If you put a couple of horns on him, he looks like Lucifer himself!

By: BPW

BPW — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:07:56 +0000

My guess is that old Tom S. was the driver behind the “CafePharma is a bathroom wall” strategy just launched by SP to prevent discovery by opposing legal counsel is the massive number of lawsuits against SP. Given the absolute brillance of this effort alone, surely he deserves his raise and “special cash award. he and Tom K. are likley only 2 of several that will receive these incentives to stay and SP and keep their mouths shut. If these guys were to leave and be called to testify, it could be curtains for fred and carrie.

By: Condor

Condor — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:11:45 +0000

Great dialogue, above.

Now, to answer the speculation of Jeffery Clark, here — while what he posits seems, at first, quite reasonable (i.e., a multi-year vesting schedule) — the SEC Form 8-K disclosure rules (with which Schering has apparently complied, as of Friday night) would require that the terms and schedule for vesting be DISCLOSED — just the way the award was — in the SAME Form 8-K. None were.

It is a certainty, then, that ALL the cash is his to spend — no strings attached.

So — no chance on that, folks. Thus, I would argue this was — in view of the circumstances — a simple, but actionable breach of fiduciary duty, on the part of the Schering Compensation Committee.

Namaste

By: Doc

Doc — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:14:49 +0000

The argument that ‘he might be getting courted by someone else’ reminds me of one of my favorite quotes.

“The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men” - Charles de Gaulle

Rationalization is the correct term regarding Mr. Sabatino’s bonus.

By: Dman

Dman — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:27:15 +0000

The reason why these jerk off lawyers continue to these bonus payouts is simple.
Schering makes more money by keeping itself out of trouble (federal or other) that what they would make with a few more sales reps.

Remember-
Drug companies HATE whistleblowers

By: Jeffrey Clark, CEO of Beaker.com, The Online Community for Life Sciences Professionals

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 06:10:03 +0000

How they can rationalize this in this market is beyond me. As a former life sciences search consultant my hunch is that they had a real, founded reason to believe he might be getting courted by someone else in the industry. That’s the only rationale I can see for a $500,000 ’special cash reward’ that, I am sure, comes with some vesting plan that keeps him at SP for the next few years.

By: Insider

Insider — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:41:36 +0000

Paid in silver, no doubt.