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Tag Archives: Payout
Elon Musk’s ‘ruthless’ plan to close his Twitter deal early let him fire the social media company’s top execs—and stop them collecting a ‘$200 million’ payout – Fortune
- Elon Musk’s ‘ruthless’ plan to close his Twitter deal early let him fire the social media company’s top execs—and stop them collecting a ‘$200 million’ payout Fortune
- Essay | The Real Story of Musk’s Twitter Takeover The Wall Street Journal
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Prince Harry Reveals Just How Big Prince William’s Murdoch Payout Was – The Daily Beast
- Prince Harry Reveals Just How Big Prince William’s Murdoch Payout Was The Daily Beast
- Prince Harry Dropped a Bombshell About Prince William That Should Have Everyone Questioning the Royal Family’s Close Ties to the Media Yahoo Life
- Prince William SETTLED Prince Harry phone-hacking case for ‘very large sum’ in 2020 | Royal latest GBNews
- As Prince Harry battles the press, why have the other royals given up the fight? The Guardian
- Prince William allegedly settles phone hacking claim for ‘very large sum’ | Today Show Australia TODAY
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Prince William Quietly Got ‘Very Large Sum’ From Murdoch Papers In Phone Hack Payout – HuffPost
- Prince William Quietly Got ‘Very Large Sum’ From Murdoch Papers In Phone Hack Payout HuffPost
- Prince Harry Dropped a Bombshell About Prince William That Should Have Everyone Questioning the Royal Family’s Close Ties to the Media Yahoo News
- Prince William SETTLED Prince Harry phone-hacking case for ‘very large sum’ in 2020 | Royal latest GBNews
- As Prince Harry battles the press, why have the other royals given up the fight? The Guardian
- Court documents reveal Prince William secretly paid a ‘large sum of money’ over phone-hacking claim Sunrise
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Johnny Depp files appeal over Amber Heard’s $2 million defamation payout
Johnny Depp filed documents Wednesday to appeal a Virginia court’s ruling that one of Depp’s lawyers defamed his ex-wife, Amber Heard.
Depp was awarded $10.35 million in damages after a jury found Heard defamed Depp following a six-week trial.
Heard lost the defamation case but was awarded $2 million in her countersuit as jurors found that Depp defamed her through his attorney.
In documents reviewed by Fox News Digital, Depp argued the court “should reverse the judgment on Ms. Heard’s counterclaim,” but he was otherwise in favor of the jury’s decision.
JOHNNY DEPP SET TO MAKE HISTORY WITH RIHANNA
Johnny Depp filed documents in the Court of Appeals of Virginia Wednesday following a jury’s ruling in favor of awarding Amber Heard $2 million due to statements made by Depp’s legal team.
(Getty Images)
“The jury’s emphatic favorable verdict on all three defamatory statements alleged in his complaint fully vindicated Mr. Depp and restored his reputation,” the documents stated.
“However, the trial court was confronted with a number of novel and complex legal and factual issues, and although the trial court decided the vast majority of those issues sensibly and correctly, a few rulings were erroneous.”
HOLLYWOOD ON TRIAL: HARVEY WEINSTEIN, DANNY MASTERSON AND PAUL HAGGIS IN COURT OVER SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
Heard claimed Depp was “vicariously liable” for statements his attorney made to a tabloid in 2020, a point the jury agreed with when awarding her $2 million following the trial.
His lawyers argued in Depp’s appeal that the lawyer, Adam Waldman, was retained as an independent contractor and Depp wasn’t liable for his statements.
Johnny Depp and lawyer Camille Vasquez appeared in court at his June defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
(Shawn Thew)
Another point of contention was proving Waldman acted with “actual malice.”
“No evidence of Mr. Waldman’s actual malice was presented at trial, so the judgment against Mr. Depp cannot be sustained,” the documents state.
Depp’s team also argued Waldman’s words were a “non-actionable statement of opinion insufficient to support a claim of defamation.”
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The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star initially sought a $50 million payout over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed Heard wrote that didn’t specifically name Depp but discussed her experiences with domestic abuse at the hands of a former partner. Heard countersued for $100 million in damages.
Amber Heard leaves the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia following the Johnny Depp defamation trial.
(Win McNamee)
Less than one month after the ruling, Heard filed a notice of appeal to overturn the verdict.
“We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment. We are therefore appealing the verdict,” Heard’s spokesperson said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Depp said there is no basis for Heard’s appeal.
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“The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp in multiple instances,” a representative said. “We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand.”
HSBC hangs up on Ping An break-up call, lifts payout and profit goal
LONDON/SINGAPORE, Aug 1 (Reuters) – HSBC (HSBA.L) pushed back on a proposal by top shareholder Ping An Insurance Group Co of China (601318.SS) to split the lender, a move Europe’s biggest bank said would be costly, while posting profits that beat expectations and promising chunkier dividends.
London-headquartered HSBC’s comments on Monday represent its most direct defence yet since news of Ping An’s proposal for carving out the lender’s Asian operations broke in April. It comes ahead of HSBC’s meeting with shareholders in Hong Kong on Tuesday where the Chinese insurer’s proposal will be discussed.
And in moves that pleased investors, HSBC raised its target for return on tangible equity, a key performance metric, to at least 12% from next year versus a 10% minimum flagged earlier. It also vowed to revert to paying quarterly dividends from early 2023.
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HSBC’s shares rose 6% in early London trade on Monday, the highest since end-June.
“We have sympathy for Ping An and all our shareholders that our performance has not been where it needed to be for the last 10 years,” Chief Executive Noel Quinn, who has run the bank for more than two years, told analysts.
Asia is HSBC’s biggest profit centre, with the region’s share of the lender’s profit rising to 69% in the first half from 64% a year ago.
Without directly referencing Ping An by name in its earnings presentation earlier on Monday, HSBC said a break-up would mean a potential long-term hit to the bank’s credit rating, tax bill and operating costs, and bring immediate risks in executing any spinoff or merger.
“There would be a significant execution risk over a three to five year period when clients, employees and shareholders would all be distracted,” Quinn said on the call, regarding the break-up proposal.
Some investors in Hong Kong, HSBC’s biggest market, have come out in support of Ping An’s proposal. They have been upset after the lender cancelled its payout in 2020. read more
Quinn said HSBC would aim to restore its dividend to pre-COVID-19 levels as soon as possible.
Discussions with Ping An had been around purely commercial issues, the CEO said, in response to a question from a reporter about whether politics was influencing the Chinese investor’s call for the bank to break up.
HSBC has shared the findings of a review by external advisers into the validity of its strategy with its board, but will not publish them externally, Quinn told Reuters.
He said HSBC had published detailed information on its international connectivity and revenue for all its shareholders to understand the value of the franchise and its strategies.
Ping An, which has not confirmed or commented publicly on the break-up proposal, owns around 8.3% of HSBC’s equity. A Ping An spokesperson declined to comment on HSBC’s results and its strategy.
EARNINGS BEAT
Last week, Europe’s lenders offered some positive surprises on profits. read more
Dual-listed HSBC followed in their footsteps, posting a pretax profit of $9.2 billion for the six months ended June 30, down from $10.84 billion a year ago but beating the $8.15 billion average estimate of analysts compiled by the bank.
Quinn, under whose leadership HSBC has ploughed billions into Asia to drive growth, said the upgraded profitability guidance represented the bank’s best returns in a decade and validated its international strategy.
Instead of the break-up, HSBC will focus on accelerating the restructuring of its U.S. and European businesses, and will rely on its global network to drive profits, the lender said.
Analysts at Citi said the new guidance implied earnings upside for HSBC. “The beat this quarter could result in high single digit consolidated profit before tax upgrades,” they said in a report. https://bit.ly/3BwBEXV
HSBC is paying an interim dividend of 9 U.S. cents per share. It also said stock buybacks remain unlikely this year.
It reported a $1.1 billion charge for expected credit losses, as heightened economic uncertainty and rising inflation put more of its borrowers into difficulties.
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Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Lawrence White; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
JPMorgan shareholders reject $52M payout to CEO Jamie Dimon
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NEW YORK – In an unusual rebuke for Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co, shareholders on Tuesday clearly disapproved of the special $52.6 million stock option award directors gave him last year to stay on the job for at least five more years.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPM | JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 122.28 | +4.02 | +3.40% |
| BAC | BANK OF AMERICA CORP. | 36.03 | +1.23 | +3.53% |
| C | CITIGROUP INC. | 51.13 | +3.64 | +7.66% |
| WFC | WELLS FARGO & CO. | 43.74 | +1.56 | +3.70% |
In an advisory say-on-pay referendum, only 31% of votes cast endorsed JPMorgan executive payments for 2021, according to a preliminary count announced at the company’s annual meeting.
Because of the special award this year two major advisory firms, from which investors take their cue when voting, had recommended “no” votes on pay.
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc and Glass Lewis & Co criticized Dimon’s options as lacking performance criteria for vesting.
JAMIE DIMON WARNS US ECONOMY FACES MAJOR RISKS FROM INFLATION, RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
In eight of the last 12 years JPMorgan had won approval from more than 90% of votes cast in its annual compensation ballots.
In an unusual rebuke for Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co, shareholders on Tuesday clearly disapproved of the special $52.6 million stock option award directors gave him last year to stay on the job for at least five more years. (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
Dimon, 66, will keep the award, but such votes are closely followed as a test of investors’ attitudes toward executive pay and what payouts they will tolerate.
Average support for pay packages at S&P 500 companies was 88.3% in 2021, down from 89.6% in 2020 and 90% in 2019, according to consulting firm Semler Brossy.
In response to the vote, JPMorgan directors pointed out through a spokesman the special award was extremely rare and the first for Dimon in more than a decade.
JPMORGAN PROFIT FALLS 42% ON SLOWDOWN IN DEALS, TRADING
Directors said before the vote that the special award would not be recurring and “reflects the board’s desire for him to continue to lead the firm for a further significant number of years.”
The board said before the vote it made the award in consideration of Dimon’s performance, his leadership since 2005 and “management succession planning amidst a highly competitive landscape for executive leadership talent.”
The JP Morgan Chase & Co. headquarters, The JP Morgan Chase Tower in Park Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan, New York. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational banking and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in th ( Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images)
If Dimon, a billionaire, keeps working at the bank for five years the options will vest, although he could still receive them if he leaves to work for the government or to run for public office.
Stock from the options must be held until 10 years after being granted.
The award was separate from Dimon’s usual annual pay package, which was up 10% to $34.5 million for 2021.
The board prevailed in its recommendations on all other issues. All directors, including Dimon, were re-elected with more than 92% of the votes cast, according to preliminary figures.
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Two shareholder proposals on fossil fuel financing received only 11% and 15% of votes cast, consistent with weak support recently for initiatives at Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, as well as at big oil companies.
Zoom agrees to ‘historic’ $85m payout for graphic Zoombombing claims | Zoom
The Covid-19 pandemic brought on a surge of “zoom-bombing” as hackers and pranksters crashed into virtual meetings with abusive messages and imagery. Now, Zoom has agreed to a “historic” payout of $85m as part of a class-action settlement brought by its users, including church groups who said they were left traumatized by the disruptions.
As part of the settlement agreement, Zoom Video Communications, the company behind the teleconference application that grew popular during the pandemic, will pay the $85m to users in cash compensation and also implement reforms to its business practices.
On Thursday, federal judge Laurel Beeler of California granted final approval to the agreement which was first filed in July. The agreement was granted preliminary approval in October.
The settlement stems from 14 class-action complaints filed against the San Jose-based company by users between March and May of 2020, in which they argued that the company violated their privacy and security.
In one incident two years ago, the Saint Paulus Lutheran Church in San Francisco was hosting a bible study class in which most of the participants were senior citizens. However, shortly into the session, “Zoom allowed a ‘known offender’… to ‘Zoombomb’ the class,” according to a federal lawsuit that was filed in May 2020.
According to the lawsuit, participants “had their computer screens hijacked and their control buttons disabled while being forced to watch pornographic video footages”, including images of child sex abuse and physical abuse.
The host was unable to remove the hijacker from the meeting room and asked the participants to leave and rejoin the meeting, only for the hijacker to bombard the meeting again with graphic content. The incident left the host and the participants “traumatized and helpless”, said the lawsuit.
In another incident that occurred in April 2020, participants who joined the virtual Sunday services at Oakland’s Oak Life Church via Zoom were bombarded with child sex abuse images.
According to court documents reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, “The participants from that meeting, many of whom were trauma survivors to begin with, were left traumatized and devastated.
“Oak Life Church was required to hire trauma counselors and establish support groups to assist its congregation in dealing with the resulting trauma,” the documents added.
In addition to failing to prevent “Zoombombings”, the case’s plaintiffs have accused Zoom of unlawfully sharing data with authorized third parties such as Facebook, Google and LinkedIn and misrepresenting the strength of its end-to-end encryption protocols.
Mark Molumphy, one of the attorneys representing Zoom in the case, described the settlement as “groundbreaking” in a statement, adding that it would also “implement privacy practices that, going forward, will help ensure that users are safe and protected”
According to Molumphy, paying users who submit claims will be eligible for 30% of the subscription payment they made during the class period and others will each receive approximately $29. There are around 150 million settlement class members, which include paying and non-paying users, and the compensation amounts may change, depending on how many claims are submitted.
“In the age of corporate surveillance, this historic settlement recognizes that data is the new oil and compensates consumers for unwittingly providing data in exchange for a ‘free’ service,” plaintiff’s attorney Tina Wolfson said in a statement on Friday.
“It also compensates those who paid for a product they did not receive and commits Zoom to changing its corporate behavior to better inform consumers about their privacy choices and provide stronger cybersecurity,” she added.
As part of the settlement, Zoom has agreed to over a dozen changes to its business practices that are designed to “improve meeting security, bolster privacy disclosures and safeguard consumer data”, according to court documents.
As part of those changes, the company is required to develop and maintain a user-support ticket system to track reports of meeting disruptions, a documented process for communicating with law enforcement regarding disruptions that include illegal content, a suspend-meeting button and the ability to block users from certain countries.
Tesla liable to Black former worker who alleged bias, but payout should be cut: judge
Here are your FOX Business Flash top headlines for April 13.
A federal judge said on Wednesday Tesla Inc. was liable to a Black elevator operator who said the electric car company ignored racial abuse at the factory where he worked, but reduced a nearly $137 million jury award to $15 million.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco ruled after jurors last October found that Tesla subjected Owen Diaz to a hostile environment at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California by allowing and failing to stop the racism he faced.
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Diaz, who worked at the plant for nine months in 2015 and 2016, said other employees used racist slurs when speaking to him, and scrawled swastikas and slurs including the “N-word” on bathroom walls. He also said one supervisor drew a racist caricature near his workstation.
Vehicles are seen parked at the Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
In a 43-page decision, Orrick said the evidence amply supported the jury’s finding Tesla liable for the “profound” emotional harm Diaz suffered and the “often inadequate” disciplinary steps the company took.
But the judge reduced Diaz’s compensatory damages to $1.5 million from the “excessive” $6.9 million that the jury awarded, and lowered punitive damages to $13.5 million from the “unconstitutionally large” $130 million jury award.
Bernard Alexander, a lawyer for Diaz, in an interview said his client plans to appeal the lowered damages award.
ELON MUSK FACES SHAREHOLDER LAWSUIT OVER DELAY IN DISCLOSING TWITTER STAKE
“We’re pleased that the court upheld the jury’s finding that Tesla’s conduct was absolutely reprehensible,” Alexander said.
“The award of $15 million is substantial but does not come close to reflecting the harm caused to Mr. Diaz, or the reprehensibility of Tesla’s conduct,” he added.
Tesla and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company had sought to limit compensatory and punitive damages to $300,000 each.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk ((AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) / AP Newsroom)
Led by billionaire Elon Musk, Tesla faces similar claims in other lawsuits.
In one such case, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleged in February that Black workers at the Fremont plant endured constant harassment, but saw their complaints ignored.
ELON MUSK LAWYER QUOTES EMINEM LYRICS IN LATEST SEC LEGAL FILING
Tesla previously called that lawsuit misguided, and said it has adopted policies to prevent and punish racist conduct.
Compensatory damages are meant to cover actual losses, while punitive damages are meant to punish and deter violations.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 1,022.37 | +35.42 | +3.59% |
Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, punitive damages typically should be less than 10 times compensatory damages.
Legal experts had called Diaz’s original $137 million award one of the largest for a single plaintiff alleging workplace discrimination.
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The case is Diaz v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 17-06748.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Daniel Wiessner in New York; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Kenneth Maxwell)
Tesla liable to Black former worker who alleged bias, but payout should be cut: judge
Here are your FOX Business Flash top headlines for April 13.
A federal judge said on Wednesday Tesla Inc. was liable to a Black elevator operator who said the electric car company ignored racial abuse at the factory where he worked, but reduced a nearly $137 million jury award to $15 million.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco ruled after jurors last October found that Tesla subjected Owen Diaz to a hostile environment at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California by allowing and failing to stop the racism he faced.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Diaz, who worked at the plant for nine months in 2015 and 2016, said other employees used racist slurs when speaking to him, and scrawled swastikas and slurs including the “N-word” on bathroom walls. He also said one supervisor drew a racist caricature near his workstation.
Vehicles are seen parked at the Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
In a 43-page decision, Orrick said the evidence amply supported the jury’s finding Tesla liable for the “profound” emotional harm Diaz suffered and the “often inadequate” disciplinary steps the company took.
But the judge reduced Diaz’s compensatory damages to $1.5 million from the “excessive” $6.9 million that the jury awarded, and lowered punitive damages to $13.5 million from the “unconstitutionally large” $130 million jury award.
Bernard Alexander, a lawyer for Diaz, in an interview said his client plans to appeal the lowered damages award.
ELON MUSK FACES SHAREHOLDER LAWSUIT OVER DELAY IN DISCLOSING TWITTER STAKE
“We’re pleased that the court upheld the jury’s finding that Tesla’s conduct was absolutely reprehensible,” Alexander said.
“The award of $15 million is substantial but does not come close to reflecting the harm caused to Mr. Diaz, or the reprehensibility of Tesla’s conduct,” he added.
Tesla and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company had sought to limit compensatory and punitive damages to $300,000 each.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk ((AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) / AP Newsroom)
Led by billionaire Elon Musk, Tesla faces similar claims in other lawsuits.
In one such case, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleged in February that Black workers at the Fremont plant endured constant harassment, but saw their complaints ignored.
ELON MUSK LAWYER QUOTES EMINEM LYRICS IN LATEST SEC LEGAL FILING
Tesla previously called that lawsuit misguided, and said it has adopted policies to prevent and punish racist conduct.
Compensatory damages are meant to cover actual losses, while punitive damages are meant to punish and deter violations.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 1,022.37 | +35.42 | +3.59% |
Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, punitive damages typically should be less than 10 times compensatory damages.
Legal experts had called Diaz’s original $137 million award one of the largest for a single plaintiff alleging workplace discrimination.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
The case is Diaz v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 17-06748.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Daniel Wiessner in New York; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Kenneth Maxwell)