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Viacom CEO 2010 compensation jumps to $84.5M

NEW YORK – Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe Dauman's compensation more than doubled in 2010 from the year before, according to an Associated Press analysis, mainly because of stock options and awards.

Dauman's overall pay package climbed to $84.5 million from $34 million, according to a review of securities filings made on Friday.

His base salary rose 5 percent to about $2.6 million from $2.5 million. He received a performance-based bonus of $11.3 million, down 10 percent from $12.5 million the year before. The value of perks such as jet travel and 401(k) contributions fell 42 percent to $141,000 from $243,000.

The biggest part of Dauman's compensation came in the form of stock options and awards. In fiscal 2010, they totaled $70.5 million, up from $18.7 million.

Dauman oversees a media empire that includes cable channels MTV, BET and Comedy Central along with the Paramount Pictures film studio. In the nine months ended in September — the company recently switched its fiscal year to end Sept. 30. — Viacom brought in revenue of $9.34 billion, up 1 percent from the same nine months a year earlier.

The company's net income during the same period climbed 23 percent to $1.18 billion from $954 million.

Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone, who controls Viacom and CBS Corp. though super-voting shares, saw his compensation slip about 11 percent to $15 million from $16.9 million.

He drew a base salary of $1.31 million, up 5 percent from $1.25 million. His performance-based bonus fell 10 percent to $5.6 million from $6.3 million, and the value of his perks fell 23 percent to $4,650 from $6,000.

The value of stock and option awards he received fell 13 percent to $8.1 million from $9.3 million.

The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value that the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.

Members-elect plan to sleep in their D.C. offices

Many of Congress' incoming freshmen are not searching for a place in D.C. to call home -- 15 percent plan to sleep in their Capitol Hill offices and never find a residence,љ .

In the mid-'80s, bedding down on the Hill was discouraged because it mixed business with personal life. But that changed with the 1994 Republican-wave election. Speaker Newt Gingrich blessed the practice, and it grew in popularity.

So why do they do it? Washington is an expensive city for real estate, so fiscally conservative members argue that the decision saves money. Other lawmakers sleep in their offices because they feel it maintains their outsider status. And some members say it's just the most practical choice since their lives revolve around the Hill.

(AP video still: Rep. Jason Chaffetz displays his office cot)

Larry D. Simons Selected as a 2010 Top Attorney in Bankruptcy by Pasadena Magazine

Larry D. Simons, principal of the Law Offices of Larry D. Simons was selected as a top attorney for 2010 by Pasadena Magazine.Attorneys were chosen by their peers as being leaders in their respective specialty.

Pasadena, California (PRWEB) November 15, 2010

Larry D. Simons, principal of Law Offices of Larry D. Simons is proud to have been selected as a top attorney in Bankruptcy Law by Pasadena Magazine in its November 2010 issue.Attorneys appearing in the magazine were recognized by their peers as being leaders in their chosen specialty.

Larry D. Simons, is a certified specialist in Bankruptcy by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization.Mr. Simons has been named by Southern California Super Lawyers magazine as a rising star in Southern California in the bankruptcy field for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.Only five percent of the lawyers in the state are named by Super Lawyers as a rising star.

Having been in practice for over 14 years, Mr. Simons has published numerous articles.His articles have appeared in Norton Bankruptcy Adviser, California Bankruptcy Journal and Debt3, the trade publication for the Commercial Law League of America.A complete list of his articles can be found on the Firm’s website, .

Prior to forming his own firm, Mr. Simons was an associate at a bankruptcy boutique in downtown Los Angeles where he represented bankruptcy trustees, creditor committees and individual debtors.Before that, he was a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Kathleen Thompson, United States Bankruptcy Judge and the Hon. Arthur Greenwald (ret.), United States Bankruptcy Judge.Mr. Simons’s legal career began at a small consumer bankruptcy firm in Woodland Hills where he honed his craft in representing businesses and individuals before the Bankruptcy Court.Mr. Simons is admitted to practice in California, the United States District Court, Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Southern District of California as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

About Law Offices of Larry D. Simons:A full service law firm in Pasadena, California representing individuals and businesses before the United States Bankruptcy Court.

Contact:Larry D. SimonsLaw Offices of Larry D. Simons626-432-5406larry(at)lsimonslaw(dot)com

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Larry SimonsLaw Offices of Larry D. Simons626.432.5406Email Information

Ontario cuts deficit forecast, to lower power rate

TORONTO (Reuters) – Ontario has cut its budget deficit forecast by 5 percent to C$18.7 billion ($18.3 billion) for the current year, citing the benefits of spending restraint and increased corporate tax revenue.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan gave the revised forecast for the 2010-11 fiscal year to reporters on Tuesday, ahead of Thursday's official release of the province's fall economic statement.

A government official on Wednesday confirmed the deficit forecast had dropped from the C$19.7 billion announced in the March budget. At the time, it said the 2009-10 deficit would be a record high C$21.3 billion.

The official also confirmed a newspaper report that the Liberal government will cut power bills by 10 percent beginning January 1. Rising electricity prices have angered many voters and hurt the provincial government's popularity.

This would result in average savings of C$150 per household annually and cost the government about $1 billion a year, the official said.

Separately, Export Development Canada forecast that as North America's economy recovers from deep recession, Ontario -- Canada's manufacturing heartland -- is expected to grow international exports by 14 percent in 2010 and 7 percent in 2011.

The export credit agency said this will be better than the national average. It sees Canada's international exports rising 12 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011.

Soaring demand for Canadian-made vehicles and parts is expected to boost the province's auto sector, which comprises almost 30 percent of Ontario's total exports, the agency said.

Haiti rioters attack U.N. troops, one protester killed

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Protesters in Haiti, blaming United Nations troops for a cholera epidemic that has killed hundreds of people, attacked U.N. peacekeepers in two cities on Monday.

One protester was shot dead in the clashes and six U.N. peacekeepers were injured.

The U.N. mission blamed the violence in Cap-Haitien and Hinche on political agitators it said were bent on stirring up unrest ahead of presidential and legislative elections set for November 28 in the earthquake-hit Caribbean country.

In Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city on the north coast, U.N. blue helmets were fired on by armed demonstrators and one demonstrator was killed when a peacekeeper opened fire in self-defense, the U.N. mission (MINUSTAH) said in a statement.

U.N. troops also used tear gas against the protesters.

"MINUSTAH reiterates its firm commitment to support the Haitian national police in maintaining order and security in the country to guarantee the continuation of the electoral process and Haiti's reconstruction," the U.N. statement said.

At Hinche in the central region, U.N. peacekeepers were among several people injured by stone-throwing protesters who attacked Nepalese troops stationed there.

The Nepalese have been the subject of widespread rumors that they brought the cholera bacteria behind the month-long epidemic of the deadly disease in Haiti that has killed more than 900 people and sickened close to 15,000.

The U.N. mission, which is helping the impoverished country rebuild after a devastating earthquake in January, has denied rumors that latrines close to a river at the Nepalese U.N. camp were the cause of the cholera outbreak.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said DNA testing shows the cholera strain in Haiti is most closely related to a strain from South Asia. But it has not pinpointed the source or linked it directly to the Nepalese troops, whom the U.N. says tested negative for the disease.

Officials and residents in Cap-Haitien said earlier on Monday that hundreds of protesters yelling anti-U.N. slogans had set up burning barricades and torched a police station.

"The whole city is blocked, businesses and schools have closed, cars have been burned. It's chaos here," a businessman in Cap-Haitien, Georgesmain Prophete, told Reuters.

The cholera epidemic has inflicted another crisis on the Western Hemisphere's poorest state as it struggles to rebuild from the earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people.

Fear, uncertainty and anger have swept a country already traumatized by the earthquake, which also left 1.5 million people homeless.

SECURITY WORRIES

Haiti's government and the more than 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission have signaled their determination to go ahead with the November 28 elections.

"MINUSTAH urges the population to remain vigilant and not to allow itself to be manipulated by the enemies of stability and democracy in the country," the U.N. mission said.

Nevertheless, the violent incidents raise questions about security for the elections, which will choose a successor to President Rene Preval, a 99-member parliament and 11 members of the 30-seat Senate.

Analysts say the elections could be the most important in Haiti's history but many see the path to the polls threatened by risks of political violence, as well as the huge humanitarian challenges.

Joany Caneus, director of police for the northern region where Cap-Haitien is located, said the anti-U.N. demonstrators there set fire to the Pont Neuf police station.

"You can imagine how difficult it is when we cannot have the usual backup of the U.N. troops because they themselves are in difficulty," Caneus told Reuters, adding that the U.N. peacekeepers in the city had asked for a Haitian police patrol to be posted in front of their headquarters.

"So we don't only have to protect the population, we also have to protect U.N. troops ... We are working on ways to control the situation."

Last month, in the central town of Saint-Marc, at the heart of the cholera outbreak, stone-throwing residents apparently fearing contagion disrupted the setting up of a cholera treatment center, burning several tents.

Experts say Haiti's widespread poverty and poor sanitation have been major factors in the rapid spread of the cholera epidemic, which has affected six of the country's 10 provinces. The last cholera epidemic in Haiti was a century ago.

But the experts say it is difficult to trace the source of the outbreak with certainty or determine how it re-entered the country after such a long absence.

(Writing and additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Miami; Editing by John O'Callaghan)