You dont actually beleve that idiotic story do you?
It's like saying everyone in the USA weighs 30 stone, its a load of rubbish.
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John Browett Officially Joins Apple as Retail Chief, Receives Stock Rights Worth $60 Million
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You dont actually beleve that idiotic story do you?
It's like saying everyone in the USA weighs 30 stone, its a load of rubbish.
60 million dollars worth of stock?
Is he a movie star or a sales man? Can he walk on water?
Is there really an ability in him that's so much beyond all the other sales men's ability?
Or is he simply overpaid because he's overlooking such a huge amount of products, and the uneconomy of scale inflates his salary?
Is he a movie star or a sales man? Can he walk on water?
Is there really an ability in him that's so much beyond all the other sales men's ability?
Or is he simply overpaid because he's overlooking such a huge amount of products, and the uneconomy of scale inflates his salary?
You dont actually beleve that idiotic story do you?
It's like saying everyone in the USA weighs 30 stone, its a load of rubbish.
Don't shatter the illusion dude. All Americans are overweight and have too much confidence in their own abilities.
If the British only have bad teeth it's fortunate really, apart from the misery of living in Broken Brittain.
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Maybe he just pulled of a really good interview? Like a really good one.
Just ask Mark Papermaster how easy it is lasting a year at Apple. My guess is that the $3 million was part of the draw to lure Browett from his previous position. CEOs don't leave to become Senior Vice Presidents for no reason.
Guaranteed pay and guaranteed bonuses aren't much of an incentive to work hard, since you get the same no matter what you do.
Merit based bonuses are an incentive to game the metrics. This can result in actions that are immediately beneficial, but deleterious to the company in the long run. See: all of Wall Street.
A staggered stock award whose value is based on date of hire is a pretty good incentive if you're looking for a balance of risk taking (to hopefully make the value of your reward go up) and restraint (to not take any actions that could result in the value going down NOR to forfeit the lot). It also acts as its own contract guarantee, since an executive looking to jump ship needs to account for the money he's leaving on the table by taking this action.
You can argue it's too high or too low, but this is less than the guarantee some athletes and entertainers command. It's actually less than the guarantees offered senior executives at other top companies, and yet the job is no less commanding in terms of talent. He's not coming on to clean the glass staircases -- he's coming on to grow the most profitable retail enterprise on the planet. The upside for doing that job, as well as the loss for screwing it up, should be commensurate with the challenge.
Merit based bonuses are an incentive to game the metrics. This can result in actions that are immediately beneficial, but deleterious to the company in the long run. See: all of Wall Street.
A staggered stock award whose value is based on date of hire is a pretty good incentive if you're looking for a balance of risk taking (to hopefully make the value of your reward go up) and restraint (to not take any actions that could result in the value going down NOR to forfeit the lot). It also acts as its own contract guarantee, since an executive looking to jump ship needs to account for the money he's leaving on the table by taking this action.
You can argue it's too high or too low, but this is less than the guarantee some athletes and entertainers command. It's actually less than the guarantees offered senior executives at other top companies, and yet the job is no less commanding in terms of talent. He's not coming on to clean the glass staircases -- he's coming on to grow the most profitable retail enterprise on the planet. The upside for doing that job, as well as the loss for screwing it up, should be commensurate with the challenge.
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Look at what Apple is doing, though. They are building stores-within-stores in Targets and Wal-Marts. They already know how to build top-notch standalone stores. They might not know the in-and-outs of developing other concepts. Also, Apple's online store has been being upgraded lately. It was somewhat behind the times (only recently gaining in-store pickup and return options), and it still gets bogged down with new iPhone and iPad releases.
There are 3 types of people in America:
1) People at the top of the pyramid, who think the system is great and tell you: Work hard and you can achieve the same thing I achieved.
2) People who believe they are on their way to the top of the pyramid. Their only fear is that things change before they get there. They want things to stay the way they are until they make it to category "1)". They call complainers lazy and anti-American and they vehemently defend the status of people in category "1)".
3) The folks who have seen through the smoke and mirrors, and understand the pyramid stands up straight due to its very broad base. These guys are wisely resigned, sleep at night and learn to be happy with what they have.
1) People at the top of the pyramid, who think the system is great and tell you: Work hard and you can achieve the same thing I achieved.
2) People who believe they are on their way to the top of the pyramid. Their only fear is that things change before they get there. They want things to stay the way they are until they make it to category "1)". They call complainers lazy and anti-American and they vehemently defend the status of people in category "1)".
3) The folks who have seen through the smoke and mirrors, and understand the pyramid stands up straight due to its very broad base. These guys are wisely resigned, sleep at night and learn to be happy with what they have.
Not true...places like GE, IBM, numerous banks, pharmaceuticals, etc. that have far more products, employees, and overall contribution to the economy...those companies responsibility (other than the obvious "let's make the company successful") are VASTLY greater than Steve/Tim creating a new iPod for 50 million people across the globe...or a new phone. Those other companies affect many hundreds if not BILLIONS of people across the planet...as well as economies across the globe.
I hate to say it...but if Apple went out of business tomorrow, the stock market and our economy wouldn't even hiccup. If GE were to close tomorrow, the USA would quickly fall into a Recession...
Apple sells 3-5 products to consumers only priced between $200 and $1500 for the most part. That's it. No services. No business selling. Very focused on 3-5 good products for people who have a a WANT...not a NEED. Their stock is riding well because they are a cool company with a very few cool gadgets...if Apple doesn't think of something else completely new than the ipod/iphone/ipad gravy train of the same old iOS/look & feel stuff, their sales/profits will plummet in about 2-3 years when everyone and their grandmother has one of the 3 Apple products and there is nobody else left to sell it to. Seriously. I like the Apple products but the "invention" of the iPad was simply the iPod Touch in extra large size with a few alterations of features to force you to choose between a Touch and an iPad.
But back to my point...Apple could close tomorrow and although many people would lose their money from stocks, its closure would have 0 effect on anything other than after that. Remember all the folks that lost big money with Arthur Anderson and/or Enron? Other than the legal ramifications of all their lies, nothing happened to our economy other than a few hundred thousand people lost their money in those stocks.
How do you figure? GE's not doing anything unique. If they were to go belly up, there'd still be a demand for the products they produce and a workforce with the knowledge to produce them. One company would pick up the turbine business, another would pick up the appliances, and so on down the line. It'd even be a chance for entrepeneurs stuck in the fold at GE to strike out on their own and develop new and more profitable companies working in the same space.
I only mention this because I live in Schenectady, home of GE, and this is exactly what happens every time there's a big layoff. Some people don't work for a while, while others build competing or related businesses. Some of these businesses take off, and within 5 years they're competing directly with GE. The big success story I'm thinking of is Iron Mountain, but there are hundreds of other examples.
Big companies do one thing well: big moves. Big purchases and big new product roll outs, waves of new stores. But not everything benefits from big moves. R & D tends to work best in small, targeted areas, as does internet business.
PS all this goes for Apple as well. Manufacturers go belly up all the time and all that happens is their competitors hire the good people and their products get better.
Dixons are nothing like Apple in any way. Hopefully Apple have seen something in him that isn't immediately obvious, and he will do a good job.
I seriously wonder how he is going to enhance a retail store that sells 3-5 products. What more is he going to do? Seriously. Add more tables? Change the paint color? Software is no longer boxed (thanks now to Apple Mac OS) and none of the iOS devices even can use boxed software so that takes up 0 retail space. Maybe he will add more cases for the iPods?
More employees? Bring back cash registers? Educate the employees on grooming techniques Apple needs more unique products and possibly more retail outlets. Other than that, I honestly have no idea what the CRO is going to add in terms of value for a company that sells 3-5 products.
If you look at the statistics, British dental hygiene records are superior to the US on average.
Though I have also noticed Jonny Ive isn't smiling in his photo. We arn't a happy bunch
I certainly don't doubt you on the oral hygiene. I was thinking more of the snaggleteeth for which you Brits are so well known. (Before you assume I'm coming off as superior in the dental department, I wasn't born with a mouth full of perfect chiclets myself, and I'm not even British.)
As for Mssrs. Browett and Ives, they seem to have perfected the sarcastic British smirk. We would expect nothing else.
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I don't look at that guy and think it's messed up that I make around what the average citizen makes.
If I was an Apple employee and I wasn't making well above average, then that would be messed up. It would suck to be an employee of a company as rich as Apple and only make $15-$20 an hour like the guy down at the verizon store is making for selling cell phones. When the company does that well, it should be payed off in part to the employees.
Why not pay Apple salesman, help desk etc 80-90k per year? Apple is doing great and the world is buying their products. They are sitting on a mountain of cash and profits keep climing. Shouldnt all employees of the company reap the rewards of contributing to the success of the company? Who cares if the average sales person makes $30k per year. Since Apple is having amazing success, they should be making 80-100k per year. It's strange to me that this isn't so. Whats more important than your employees that you cant toss them a financial bone.
Maybe it's not so much enhancing the store as getting it into to more geographic areas? I can't see him changing the formula much.I seriously wonder how he is going to enhance a retail store that sells 3-5 products. What more is he going to do? Seriously. Add more tables? Change the paint color? Software is no longer boxed (thanks now to Apple Mac OS) and none of the iOS devices even can use boxed software so that takes up 0 retail space. Maybe he will add more cases for the iPods?
Apple needs more unique products and possibly more retail outlets. Other than that, I honestly have no idea what the CRO is going to add in terms of value for a company that sells 3-5 products.
You dont actually beleve that idiotic story do you?
It's like saying everyone in the USA weighs 30 stone, its a load of rubbish.
What idiotic story do you mean? I only believe some of them.
Not to belittle your argument or sound condescending...but you truly have no idea the vast sectors that GE is in and likely owns. It's FAR more than just turbines or lightbulbs. I know very first hand, how gigantic GE is and their importance to the USA economy.
Sure, there's always someone who will be there when a company fails...but there is just no comparison, whatsoever, with the GEs/Fords/Banks of the USA to Apple as far as impact on the USA economy if said company closed tomorrow.
On a side note, Apple employs 47,000 but 25,000 of that are retail employees. So really about 22,000 people at Apple making any kind of real decision on product/company vision.
everyone admires Apple, but considering that its fortune is created by its employees around the world, why sharing a small piece of it by rewarding them instead of granting incredible amounts of stocks to a few executives ???
of course these guys take huge strategic decisions for the company everyday, but then those who work their a$$ off to create the magic and sell the products are finally all the rest of employees, mostly with minimum / low wages
of course these guys take huge strategic decisions for the company everyday, but then those who work their a$$ off to create the magic and sell the products are finally all the rest of employees, mostly with minimum / low wages
everyone admires Apple, but considering that its fortune is created by its employees around the world, why sharing a small piece of it by rewarding them instead of granting incredible amounts of stocks to a few executives ???
of course these guys take huge strategic decisions for the company everyday, but then those who work their a$$ off to create the magic and sell the products are finally all the rest of employees, mostly with minimum / low wages
I do agree...to a point...but the companies (and our mentality as a Capitalist society) can't start sharing the wealth just for no reason otherwise we turn into a Communist society by definition.
But to your point, YES, I am often annoyed that good, hard-working, quality retail staff never get a dime more than their hourly rate. We've all worked in retail in our life.
Apple retail employees do get free iPhones/ipods from time to time...and they probably get decent discounts...but it would be nice, as you allude, to instead of giving Frank $60 million in bonus, Apple gives him $55 and gives the other $5mill to retail employees of X caliber and/or Apple employees as a whole (say, $5million worth of free product this year and each employee thus gets a $1000 free gift card WHILE ALSO GETTING THEIR EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT).
The extremely good times that Apple has had the past 5 years really should trickle down a little more to the "face" of Apple. In bad times, sure, tighten the belt.
Whoa, really interesting analogy...
Not clear on the connection, but interesting nonetheless...